


A Calculated Cruelty

by Dr_Psyche



Series: Lustrous [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Background Relationships, Body Horror, Gen, Stalking, but containing scary images, it's the Zircon ship in the background, not a horror fic, the Zircon ship is not the abusive relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2018-12-26 22:38:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 20,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12068382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_Psyche/pseuds/Dr_Psyche
Summary: The Flagship of a long dead empire has been commandeered by the Diamond Authority and stripped for its resources.Yellow Zircon, Yellow Pearl, and Topaz are tasked with delivering a package to this outpost; Carnelian, Skinny, and the Famethyst must perform some maintenance on it.The Outpost, however, has some nightmarish secrets within it. They soon realize that there are things they were better off not knowing about.





	1. Setting Out

**Author's Note:**

> As with the entirety of this fic series, this is based on Drawbauchery's AU. It's a simple premise, there's an Amethyst (8xA) and she's stalking Peridot. Blue Zircon is like a protective mom, trying to stop this.
> 
> Here's the [comic](http://drawbauchery.tumblr.com/post/162529813292/fair-warning-its-not-nsfw-but-there-is-a-creepy) that started it all.  
> 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Yellow Trio set off!

The ship exited warp and the destination flashed into reality before them. Yellow Zircon smirked, they’d finally arrived. Yellow Diamond’s Pearl had been ecstatic the whole way over. She had finally been handed a responsibility by her master to lead a mission. Nothing too flashy though, the Diamonds had little faith in their Pearls accomplishing something of importance; this was just an item delivery. In spite of this, Pearl was having the time of her life,

“Imagine! One of our most perfect leaders seeing it fit to allow me to lead a mission! That’s amazing, a Pearl given this much authority!”

She was practically bouncing in her command chair. Zircon had been assigned to accompany her in order to get the technical details out of the way. Pearl was merely to deliver a cache of minerals that the science team at their destination needed (but not needed in a way that would inconvenience them too badly should they not receive them, this was a mission fit for a Pearl after all). Zircon was brought along to make sure they cleared the necessary contaminant procedures and to go and assist with a few legal matters at the Outpost they were headed to. To protect them, they’d been assigned a Topaz fusion. She was tall, muscular, and her face had the tell-tale look of someone who meant business. Topaz didn’t say a whole lot, but Zircon was impressed with her symmetry; not a lot of fusions managed to keep the eye and limb count normal and she even had her two gems line up.

Pearl was worried around her though, something about an active fusion nearby had set her on edge.

“Are you two sure you need to stay together all the time?” she had asked when they’d set out.

“Why not?” Zircon replied.

“It’s just so… well, they’re a fusion! It’s like a gem who keeps their weapon drawn all the time.”

“They’re meant to be big and intimidating,” Zircon replied, “And together they’re bigger and more intimidating than they are apart.”

“I know it just… bothers me,” Pearl said.

Zircon had kept a note of Topaz’s face during this exchange. Her expression didn’t change once.

“It’s like that one, remember?” Pearl asked.

“You’ll have to be a lot more specific,” Zircon replied.

“On don’t be smart, you know the one!” Pearl snapped, “The multi-bodied thing that we tried to put to death. My stars it was about six gems all smashed together into… that. It was horrifying!”

Zircon remembered this. Fluorite was what she was called. A being so unapologetically vile that she was not soon to be forgotten. Zircon remembered that trial well. It was disgusting to see. Six gems had given themselves up entirely; their identities, their forms, their individuality; and for what? Fluorite said that she was happy in that form, that she was more. Zircon could never understand what she’d meant by that. She doubted the creature could fight, it could barely think coherently. Fusion meant gems becoming more powerful together, but she doubted Fluorite had much going for her other than her intimidating size.

“I can barely go about my tasks, knowing that… thing, is still out there!” Pearl snapped. “I can’t believe it escaped execution, can you believe that?!”

Zircon glanced at Topaz again. Topaz was still expressionless, like a loyal soldier should be.

“Oh, don’t worry your pretty little head,” Zircon said, “The robonoids will find her eventually. A being that big can’t hide forever.”

“What if she splits apart?” Pearl asked, “What if she reverts to her singular gems and they all run about and hide back in society? Pretending that this whole thing never happened. Pretending that they hadn’t willingly taken part in something so vile.”

“They won’t,” Zircon said, simply.

“How do you know?”

Zircon remembered the monster, remembered her words at the trial.

“It’s not in their nature. They’d never go back to their individual forms willingly.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she could see Topaz give a small smile. When she turned to look, Topaz’s face was the standard stoicism. As it should have been.


	2. Nemesis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They've arrived.

In the present Topaz guided their ship toward their destination. They had arrived at Nemesis Outpost. A massive black and purple warship loomed in front of them, and the Gem Empire’s own ships were docked all over its hull; they were tiny compared to it. The Nemesis was the flag ship of a long dead empire whose soldiers were metal men the size of the Diamonds themselves. Though their empire had fallen, their technology remained scattered about on the planets they’d once ruled. Finding this spaceship had been a boon, and thousands of Gem soldiers occupied it. They’d spent years mining out the various alien minerals that composed it, reverse engineering its many weapons, and assimilating the history of the strange race. They’d performed tests on some of the ore’s they’d harvested; someday they would try and create new gems from them.

Topaz maneuvered them close to a docking platform. Pearl drummed her fingers on her knee in excitement. They docked and the three disembarked, Pearl grabbing the package and attempting to lead the pack before handing it off to Topaz because it was too heavy. They were on the docking bay near the ship’s bow and they departed the docks to enter into the Nemesis. Zircon was surprised that they went through an airlock and the inside had atmosphere. It made sense, several equipment units and tests required atmosphere to function properly, it allowed anyone with a limb enhancer to use their flight modes, and it was much easier to communicate. Inside, the size of the ship continued to stagger them. The ceilings hung high above them, and all around them, Roaming Eyes flew about. Traversing the ship by foot would take quite a long time so smaller ships were used to bridge the difference.   
They were on a platform. The dock lead inside; gems had drilled a hole into the Nemesis’s side and created a small base here, in addition to constructing an air-lock. There was a set of offices built into the wall and a small landing platform with three Roaming Eyes parked. Pearl ordered a Ruby to prepare them a ship for the command center. They’d make the delivery there.

They waited while the Eye was being prepped. Nobody liked taking orders from a Pearl, but Yellow Diamond was not one to be crossed and her personal assistant/ornament, carried that unspoken authority. 

“We’re almost there!” Pearl said, excited. “Soon I’ll have completed my mission! I was never to fail, let’s be honest, after all _I_ was chosen. But still! I’m about to carry out My Diamond’s will all by myself.”

Pearl was giddy. Zircon supposed she’d earned it, after all it was unusual for their Diamond to send out her very own Pearl for any sort of mission at all. Perhaps it was good to have her handle a job on her own? Or maybe Yellow Diamond was tired of all the sycophants surrounding her and needed a break. The ship was prepped and the three entered. They were greeted by an unusually cheery Ruby whose gem was at her midriff. 

“Hi there!” she said, smiling at them, “I’m so so happy to be transporting Yellow Diamond’s Pearl herself!

“Well,” Pearl said, blushing, “You should be, it _is_ an honor after all.”

“Let’s go,” Zircon said, wanting to cut the praise party short.

The Roaming Eye dethatched from its landing bay and flew off down the hallways. 

“I certainly hope Emerald appreciates that our Diamond sent her number two down here. That’s got to be significant,” The Ruby said.

“Of course, it is! That means the mission’s important!” Pearl replied.

Zircon watched the scenery fly by. The wide hallways could be traversed easily by the metal giants who created the ship, but for them it’d take a bit to get where they needed to go. On the wall, she saw a handful of Peridots dismantling a key pad, trying to unravel all of the massive wirings for eventual repurposing. 

They’d long since explored the ship with the Red Eyes and discovered nothing living on it. Still, if one were to take a walk on a few lower decks, it might be days before another gem was encountered. Nemesis Outpost had three main bases. The command base was located at the Bridge, it was from there the head engineers and military brass launched their orders. The engine room had the second base. There the engineers and scientists took apart and analyzed the ship’s power core, and the various elements that fueled it. The final base was located on the outside of the ship. It was built into the ship’s main gun and was the place where the weaponry was examined. They’d removed some of the portside guns and taken them to that base for study and disassembly. They were currently flying to the Bridge to make the delivery.

Zircon watched more of the outside zip past. They entered an elevator who’s top and bottom had been removed and flew up the shaft. Each elevator door had a hole carved in it for ease of access by the various small ships. Black and purple seemed to be the main color-schemes of the lost empire as nearly every inch of the ship bore the same shades. Even the lighting was predominantly purple, it was a strange sight for sure. They exited the shaft and flew down another hallway. Zircon saw a body lying on the floor, life having long since left it. A small site had been erected around the body as robonoids and Peridots had cut into several sections, analyzing the metal and circuitry. Zircon remembered reading reports of some of the weaponry they’d reverse engineered from the soldiers here. One cannon seemed to draw its power from the core of a star, another from a black hole, and yet another from the anti-matter itself. These weapons were successfully deployed against the Alternian empire during one of Emerald’s campaigns.

The Eye rounded another corner.

“I take it the experimentations are going well?” Pearl said, “The reports to Yellow Diamond indicated a positive outlook.”

“Oh! Very very well!” The Ruby said, and her excitement did little to endear her to Zircon, “We’re ready to start synthesizing the super fuel located here and get it to run on our gunships! It’s so powerful that it blew up some of the test ships, but we’ve managed to finally harness it! Who knows how much of a win this will be for us!”

The ship flew over several more bodies. The blast holes on them indicated that this was the place of a battle. Several areas told the story of a fight onboard the ship. Warriors bearing a different insignia to many of the ship’s inhabitants lay dead with the crew. This had been a final stand of sorts.

They finally made it to the doorway to the Bridge. They’d cut holes into several closed doors for better access, the elevators being the prime example, but eventually the Peridots managed to hack into the controls and open them all permanently. The Roaming Eye entered the busy Bridge. Hundreds of gems moved about, attending to their duties. Seven Roaming eyes ferried them around the room to the different stations having been built. The helm had a station wherein the Peridots examined the steering controls, there was a station built into the ceiling to extract and examine the circuitry flowing through it, there were two stations located on the enormous control panel, each far enough that a Roaming Eye was needed to commute the distance. These stations were also where examinations of the race’s tech and ship functions took place. At the far end of the Bridge, right at the front, was the massive headquarters of the Nemesis Outpost. From there, the Gems in charge issued their orders. The Eye flew towards it, passing the command chair, and when Zircon and the rest looked from the window, they saw him.

On the command chair sat the Conquered Emperor. Even in death, authority seemed to resonate from his body so much so that they didn’t even need the ships archives to tell them who he was. He was a silver armored figure, larger than the Diamonds themselves, seated on his throne. On his right arm was a massive cannon, and upon that was a minor station, staffed by scientists who were researching his gun. There was a hole in the windshield from when they’d accidently discharged it, though now a field was placed over the breach so they would still have atmosphere. His grim face was set in determination, the last expression he had, left there frozen in time from when he died. His empire had stretched through far more space than the gem colonies, but even he had fallen to the cold hands of time.

They flew past him and Zircon could only marvel at the being. It was right there, right in this room, right on that chair, where his reign had ended. Their empire was gone, and all that was left was a few hundred uninhabitable planets.

The Eye slowed and descended towards the command base. Zircon waited patiently as they docked and the door opened up. Pearl exited first, followed by Zircon, Ruby, and Topaz. Topaz continued to silently carry the package with her.

“Here we are!” Ruby exclaimed, smiling her big smile, “Nemesis Outpost’s command center! I hope Emerald appreciates all of your hard work!”

“Of course, she will,” Pearl said, a sneering edge to her voice, or maybe that’s just how she normally sounded.

The three walked past the Ruby and headed into the base. Zircon doubted that Emerald would care all that much for the supplies they’d brought. It was just a few solutions and chemicals that would provide basic aid. There just didn’t seem to be a point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, it's pretty obvious where I got Nemesis Outpost from.


	3. Daily Drudgery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Quartz Crew's got a new assignment.

“All right, all right, let’s break,” Holly Blue Agate yelled.

The Quartz Crew dropped what they were doing and headed back to the station they’d come from. The next crew would be picking up their shift soon, and it was good to have time off. They’d been assisting in the dismantling of the medical bay cabinets. They would extract a few vials of some unknown substance for the Roaming eyes to put a field around and fly off for examination at Nemesis Outpost’s top most base. It was a lot of tedious work, they’d mostly been using projectiles to burn a hole into the cabinet all the while the crew would remove the damaged metal and help move the containers from the shelves. It was mostly just lifting, which was a job suitable for the assembled Quartz gems.

“Wow my back hurts,” Carnelian grumbled, massaging herself.

The Skinny Jasper groaned in the affirmative.

“Someone should just poof me,” Skinny said, “Just smash my form and let me rest a few days. It’ll be a mercy.”

“No mercy poofing!” The Agate yelled from across the room, having overheard enough, “You’re not getting out of work that easy.”

They groaned in response. Amethyst 2XO went for a small satchel she’d left at the side of the work zone. It was unusual for any of them to carry a bag. Most gems could just store things within their gems or simply didn’t need to carry anything, but 2XO was different. She’d fashioned the bag out of the materials they’d found within one of the metal giants. There were seats within a few of them, as if they were meant to be ridden by beings the size of gems, and 2XO had cut out and sewn a rucksack out of them. She currently had a glowing blue rock within it.

“I seriously don’t think it’s a good idea to carry that around,” Skinny said, when 2XO joined with the rest of them.

The oddly pink-hued Amethyst held out her glowing stone proudly and said, “But look at it, it’s so pretty!”

“Those things explode Rocky,” Carnelian said.

“Not this one!” Rocky said, happy to respond to her nickname rather than her designation, “Only the really energized one’s explode on contact. This one’s mostly been used up.”

“There’s still enough to make it glow,” Amethyst 8xA said.

“Yeah, enough to make it bright and shiny but not enough for it to explode!” Rocky responded.

“And kill us all,” Skinny added.

The four made their way back to the station as a group. 8xJ and the rest had gone out in front of them, having a loud conversation about an attractive Pearl they saw as ensign to the head of the local science division.

“I want to collect one of the pink one’s next,” Rocky said, “Those seem to be a more refined form of the energy rocks the creatures her mined out.”

“Now that one really will explode,” Carnelian said, “Besides, those are mostly just liquid anyway.”

“The hell is it with you and rocks anyway?” 8xA asked.

Rocky thought about that for a moment, before saying,

“Well… _we_ are rocks, aren’t we? So, shouldn’t this make a lot more sense.”

They all stopped to think about that for another moment.

“Hey, she has a point you know?” Skinny said.

The arrived at the station and entered in. 8xG was talking to the Zoo-People via a holoscreen. It was good to speak with them every once in a while, and they responded positively to familiar faces like hers.

The four made their way to one of the tables near the back of the station and sat down.

“Not gonna lie, the Zoo’s looking pretty good right about now,” Skinny said.

“I miss those guys,” Carnelian said.

“It doesn’t matter,” 8xA said, “Miss them all you want, we’re going to be sent back there when we’re done. It’s a go nowhere outpost and Holly Blue doesn’t want our group getting too friendly with the greater army.”

“Do you think they’ll like the new rock?” Rocky asked.

“Make sure it’s not dangerous,” Carnelian said, “Then we can take a few back for the Zoomans, they’ll enjoy the pretty glow.”

“Yeah, just ask one of the techs to clear it,” Skinny said.

Rocky nodded, and went back to examining her rock. She’d shown them so many. Some were rare gems from alien worlds, others were just pieces of sediment she thought looked nice. She’d showed them a cut open geode once; Carnelian said it looked like the many molten layers of a planet, 8xA said it looked like an up-skirt view of a sapphire. 

“Man, speaking of the techs, you see some of the stuff they’re cooking up at the science base?” Carnelian asked.

“Nah, but whatever it is, it’s probably unethical,” 8xA said.

“Probably, but I heard they’re developing a new gun,” Skinny said.

“They’re always doing that,” 8xA responded, “Something bigger and more killy than the last one. You know Emerald probably rubs herself off to those.”

“Wow, you really can’t help yourself, can you?” Carnelian said.

“You know she does,” 8xA responded.

“Regardless,” Skinny said, “We’ll probably be sent up there next. Something about new forms of combat.”

“You don’t think they’re running Gem experiments do you?” Rocky asked.

The three looked at Rocky, almost confused.

“Of course, they are,” 8xA said, “Why wouldn’t they? If they’ve got the authority to do it, they will, that’s how it works.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Rocky](http://drawbauchery.tumblr.com/post/163932303467/i-wanted-to-make-a-drawing-of-rocky-and-wondering) is a pink Amethyst and has a navel gem, and is not awful.


	4. Drop Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mission Accomplished

“The chemicals you requested, as you had specified!” Pearl said proudly as Topaz laid the box on Emerald’s desk.

Emerald was busy with a holoscreen at the moment and was trying to reiterate her instructions on how the weapon needed to be integrated. She gave a non-committal grunt of acknowledgement before sending a secondary message to her underling.

“No, no if the error’s within parameters it’s fine, just run more tests to make sure it never exceeds those parameters,” she said into a microphone.

Zircon clapped her hands together and said, “Well, mission accomplished, let’s go back to all the secondary tasks.”

“Morganite, we’ve got some supplies dropped off here, please take them up to the science lab,” Emerald said into her mic.

She inputted an approval for the package and shut down the holoscreens and stood up.

“Glad to have the request cleared,” she said, “Don’t know why Our Diamond saw it fit to send her personal Pearl down here, but nevertheless, package received.”

A Morganite scampered into the room and retrieved the box before departing with it. Zircon wondered why they hadn’t just taken it to the science base, but she guessed that it probably had to go through Emerald first. Legal red tape was often uselessly slow.

“My Diamond wanted a job done properly so of course she saw it fit to send me,” Pearl said.

“Of course, she did,” Emerald said, perhaps not being obvious enough with her sarcasm, “Anyway, I’m leaving soon. The Alternians are rapidly losing their territory, and I have new weapons to bring to the front lines. I’m sure Yellow Diamond will want an update on the experiments done topside. I’ll send the weaponry reports when we’re done testing them.”

Emerald departed, her cape making a majestic swoosh which Zircon was completely sure was for dramatic effect. Emerald tended to do that, it added to her mystique. 

“I look forward to hearing your report of our victory,” Pearl said.

Emerald nodded at her as she exited. With her gone, Zircon spoke up,

“I’ve got to go and disperse some legal rulings to the various gems here. Stuff from on high that they threw at me when they learned we’d be traveling all the way out here. Seeing as the drop was made, I suppose it’s time for me to go and hand those out.”

“Okay, secondary objectives then,” Pearl replied, “I suppose we should get to it.”

The three exited the base and returned to the excitable Ruby and the Roaming Eye.

“Was Emerald happy with the delivery?” Ruby asked, excited to hear the answer to such a basic question.

“Of course, she was,” Pearl replied, “She got what she needed and left.”

“Oh boy, I hope she was grateful! Our Diamond had a hand in sending such a minor task that surely it was important!”

“She could have been more grateful,” Pearl grumbled.

The four boarded the ship, Zircon saying, 

“I’ll need to see the personnel files on the workers here. I need to track down a dozen or so gems to hand out some rulings and subpoenas.”

“Oh, I can help,” The Ruby said, still exited.

She typed a few codes into the console at Zircon’s seat and pulled the files up.

“Here ya go!” 

“Thank you,” Zircon said as she shifted through them, “We’ll go to the engine base first, there’s a few gems there, then we’ll stop at one of the aft gun stations, then the core base, then several docking platforms ending with platform 9, and then the science base on top of the ship.”

Ruby nodded and had the shift depart from the docks. They turned and flew out past the dead emperor, through the door, and past the bodies.

“It might take a bit to get there,” Ruby said.

“That’s fine,” Zircon said, standing.

Pearl pulled a data log up from her station and studied it, Topaz simply sat patiently waiting to be called on again, and Zircon moved to the back of the ship, examining some of the control board. Zircon idly pulled up some of the ship’s functions. The external weaponry was behind a safety lock, ensuring that they didn’t accidently open fire on one another, but were still ready in case of an invasion. There was a cache of gem destabilizers on board and a way for the pilot to protect themselves and purge the ship of intruders. Zircon deployed the destabilizers, and a cabinet containing 5 emerged from the console next to her.

Zircon realized that Topaz was looking at her, curiously.

“Just a precaution,” Zircon said, “We had this one Amethyst who got particularly ornery over a ruling and decided to shoot the messenger. It’s always good to be prepared.”

One of the destabilizers released a bit of energy. It was crackling and sparking, even though it hadn’t been used.

“Oh yeah,” Ruby spoke up, “Be careful around that one. It’s malfunctioning. I submitted a report on it, but I haven’t heard anything back yet. It’s better to just leave it in there.”

“And if it malfunctions completely?” Zircon asked, “It discharges itself next to 4 other destabilizers, within your ship’s console? Who knows what could happen.”

“Oh well,” The Ruby chuckled, “I guess that’s the risk I’m running!”

Pearl shot her a weird look at that comment, and Zircon merely shrugged. She grabbed the defective destabilizer by its base and removed it. She collapsed the device into its palm sized storage mode and clipped it to her side. It would deactivate in storage mode, and hopefully not cause too many problems.


	5. Worse Than You Thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Zircon's have a conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place right after "Applied Pressure" the first story in this series.

_Homeworld, 2 weeks before._

Yellow Zircon walked down the familiar hallway, flicking through her Holoscreen. She’d just come out of a case involving a quarrel between a Peridot and a Ruby in regards to the deployment of a ship’s laser. It’d escalated and the Ruby had violently killed the Peridot and tried to hide the body. She’d been discovered because she hadn’t fully cleaned up the Peridot’s limb enhancers and authorities found a left-over finger at the crime scene. The shattered gem was discovered along with the rest of the limbs and the overwhelming evidence lead to the Ruby’s prosecution. Zircon probably didn’t even need to be there, but she had and it had been an easy win.

Still, she and her Blue counterpart were due in court soon, and word had gotten to her that she’d not even left her office all day.

“Damnit, what’s wrong now?” Yellow thought.

Yellow Zircon finally arrived at Blue Zircon’s office and knocked. No response. She knocked again. Still no response.

“Blue? It’s me,” she yelled, “We’re needed for a case soon!”

No response.

“Are you in there? I know you’re in there. You can’t hide from work!”

A continued silence.

“God dammit,” Yellow Zircon grumbled, before inputting a code into the door’s holopad.

They’d traded the passwords to their offices and quarters for… reasons. Blue had entrusted her with something very personal, even if it was just a few codes, Blue liked her privacy.

The door slid open and Yellow stepped in. She looked around; the far-left wall contained a large shelf littered with Knick Knacks. There was a propaganda poster, a model of an Injector, several rocks (a gift from a thankful client) and a few souvenirs from the planets she’d been to. To her right was a couch, and two chairs surrounding a low-down table and at the far back of the room was her desk. Yellow took a wild guess that she was behind that seeing as nothing else in the room could hide a full gem.

Yellow crossed the room to the desk in question, glimpsing the Blue Zircon sitting behind it with her knees to her chest. Yellow could see she’d been crying, and quietly inputted the close command into her holoscreen, shutting the office door. Yellow looked down at her; Blue was absent mindedly examining a legal document and barely registered her presence.

Yellow looked around, sighed, and slid down next to her, saying,

“What’s wrong?”

Blue didn’t acknowledge her, so Yellow continued.

“You haven’t been seen all day. Are you ok?”

Blue’s silence continued, so Yellow looked at what she had on her holoscreen. It was a restraining order for a personal case she’d been working on for quite a while. One of many cases for one of the Yellow Court’s Peridots. Blue Zircon had a strange relationship with that one, like a Kindergartener with a charge.

“Still working on the 5xG cases again I see. Hope that’s not keeping you up too late,” Yellow said.

“It’s gotten worse,” Blue replied monotonously.

“Can’t be that bad,” Yellow said, putting an arm around her shoulder.

Blue flinched at the contact and slapped her arm. Yellow immediately withdrew, concern on her face.

“Sorry!” Blue yelped, falling on her side, away from Yellow, “I’m- I’m sorry. Sorry, just please don’t touch me for a bit, I-I’m-”

Blue Zircon was stammering now, and Yellow got to her feet.

“What happened?” she said, with a lot more sternness than she intended.

“I’m sorry,” Blue said, awkwardly grabbing her desk and trying to stand, “You being here was fine, but then the contact and- and-”

“What happened?” Yellow repeated, less stern, but almost pleading.

“I-I met… her,”

Yellow was about to ask who was “her,” until she saw Blue glance at her screen again.

“Blue, what happened? Blue?” she said, quieter then.

“She- she found me when I was traveling, I was… I was alone.”

“Oh, oh no,” Yellow said.

She reached for her, but stopped when she saw Blue recoil.

“I’m sorry,” Blue said, “It’s not you it’s just, I needed to be by myself for a while.”

Yellow backed away and rubbed a hand down her face.

“Are you ok? What did she do?”

Blue slumped into her office chair and drew her hands up to her face, bending forward and rubbing her temples.

“I’m fine, really,” she said.

“You don’t look fine,” Yellow replied, doing her best to make that not sound insulting. Then, quieter she asked again, “What did she do?” 

Blue put her arms on her legs and let her hands dangle in between them. 

“She didn’t do much,” Blue replied, bringing a hand to her chest, where she could still faintly feel the Amethyst’s rough fingers on her breast, “But she can do a lot worse.”

“She threatened you?” Yellow asked.

Blue didn’t respond. Yellow pulled up her holoscreen and sent a message to the judge. She told the judge that she and Blue had been requisitioned to review a previous judge’s older cases on account of it being discovered that she held Off Color sympathies and was executed. The current Judge didn’t even bother fact checking, the case was for a property dispute and she wanted to go home; it was postponed a week.

With that out of the way she turned back to Blue. While keeping a safe distance, she said,

“Our appointments are cancelled; we’ve got time. Tell me everything.”


	6. Wanting Her

_Nemesis Outpost, currently._

8xA was breezing through the personnel list as quickly as she could, her eyes picking out every individual name. She tended to do this every time a ship docked; crew manifest after crew manifest, who was coming and who was going. It was an obsession of hers, well known to the rest of the Quartz crew. 

Carnelian and Rocky watched her. 8xA wasn’t the most pleasant person to be around, but when she got into one of “those” moods she was downright nasty. There was someone she needed to find; an era 2 Peridot from the Yellow Court. Apparently said Peridot had issued a number of restraining orders out on her, which were about as useless as the holograms they were displayed on. Rocky had told Carnelian what had happened when 8xA had gotten her hands on her. It had been almost eye opening to learn just how far the Amethyst would go.

“She’s not going to magically appear in the records if you keep looking,” Carnelian said.

“Shut up,” 8xA replied.

“I doubt she’d even visit here to assist in a drop,” Carnelian continued, “Come off it, she’s never coming here.”

8xA rounded on her then.

“Because you’re such an expert,” she said to Carnelian.

“And you are?” Carnelian retorted, “Just like how you can search for her, she can search for you, it’s that simple. She’d check.”

“And if she doesn’t?” 8xA replied, “If there’s that one lapse in her judgement, that one moment which she slips up, that one moment where she thinks double checking isn’t necessary? That’s when I’ll find her, that’s when she’ll end up here, with me.”

“Stars, just listen to yourself!” Carnelian snapped, “Can you hear what you sound like? Waiting for her to let her guard down? Can you not understand what’s wrong here?”

“She knows better than to run away,” 8xA said, fixing Carnelian with a cool stare, “Right now she’s just confused, confused on how she should feel about me. I can set her straight. I will set her straight.”

“How many restraining orders is it up to now? Like 9?” Carnelian yelled, “That’s not confusion Amethyst, honestly I’m pretty damn sure she’s afraid of you!”

“Oh, and you’d know, right? You know how a Peridot you’ve never met thinks don’t you? You’re a goddamn expert with gems is that it?” 8xA shouted back.

Their argument had made Rocky retreat from them. No other gems seemed to care about what was happening in this room as none had bothered to check on them. 8xA was a scary character for someone like 2xO but she was glad that Carnelian was so willing to stand up to her.

“I think I have a better idea of how she thinks than you! Look at you,” Carnelian shouted, “You go through the logs every other day, not because you think she’s come here willingly, but because she might have slipped up! It’s like you’re waiting for her to fall in a trap so you can get her and do who knows what. You’re obsessed!”

“Of course, I’m obsessed! We belong together and she keeps trying to get away,” 8xA said.

“It’s like talking to a fucking wall!” Carnelian said, exasperated, “You seriously don’t understand how screwed up you sound?”

“And you sound like that Zircon from the Blue Court,” 8xA shot back, “Always trying to get between us, filling her little head with lies about me.”

Carnelian opened her mouth to respond, but stopped, weighing her options.

“You… you’re really that delusional huh?” she finally said.

8xA just rolled her eyes at that. It didn’t matter to Carnelian though. Both of them had made up their minds and it was clear that whatever she could say to 8xA was useless. The Amethyst was just so taken in by this idea that that Peridot would be with her.

She turned to leave, whilst 8xA went back to the database, Rocky reached down and put a hand on Carnelian’s shoulder.

“It’s ok Carnelian, you tried, I’ve tried, a lot of us have tried,” she said.

They departed the room and Carnelian responded, “Someone’s going to get hurt, badly.”

“Some people have already been hurt,” Rocky said.

Outside, Holly Blue was organizing the squad. They were to depart for the science base shortly and rotate out the current shift of guards. 8xA soon closed her monitor and joined them.

“You will all do as you are ordered,” Holly Blue Agate said, “Should a member of staff issue you new orders, you are to follow them. And most importantly, if you have a criticism on the great work that our scientists are doing for the empire, you best keep them to yourselves. Nobody likes a complainer.”

With that complete, Rocky grabbed her satchel and followed the Quartz Crew out of the buildings. They boarded the transport ship and were off. Carnelian watched the scenery of the Nemesis give way to space as the transport ship left the hull and ascended up the side. As they got closer, 8xA saw all the experimental ships docked with the science base. Several had strange new cannons mounted on them. Skinny idly watched as the ship pulled towards the surprisingly big compound, her eyes following the massive main cannon of the ship that the base was built into. There were lots more to see inside.


	7. Busywork

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finishing off the legal procedures.

“Peridot 7xO?” Zircon asked.

“Hm?” The Peridot responded.

They were on docking platform 9, located on the underside of the Outpost. Zircon had produced a hard-light screen and handed it to the Peridot.

“You’ve just been served,” Zircon said.

“Aw dammit, I should have never been there,” The Peridot grumbled, taking the screen.

“I’ve taken the liberty of informing your Agate about the court appointment. She’s giving you the time off, you can return on the next transport ship,” Zircon said.

“Fine, fine,”

With that, Zircon turned to leave, checking off another name on her checklist. This Peridot was required to be present as a witness in regards to a case wherein an Agate was accused of assaulting a Bismuth working under her. Court appointments were never fun, especially when it took one out of their own business. 

Topaz was waiting for her at the door of the open ship, silent as ever. Behind her Zircon could see Ruby twiddling her thumbs and humming to herself, whilst Pearl was slumped in the command chair, bored.

“Well, that’s out of the way, let’s head for the Science Base,” Zircon said, “Last stop, I promise.”

“Alrighty!” Ruby said, powering up the controls.

“Is your job always this riveting?” Pearl asked, sarcastically.

“Sometimes I have to argue about properties and equipment maintenance being up to par,” Zircon responded, also sarcastically, “This is just some of the dull bits necessary to keep the empire moving.”

The Roaming Eye left the dock and flew under the ship, intending to circle around the side and arrive at the science compound.

“So, what’s the current creation up in the science base?” Pearl asked. 

“Nothing I’m privy to I’m afraid,” The Ruby responded, chuckling, “All I know is that’s where Emerald has her new guns made.”

“There’s got to be more to that though,” Pearl said.

“I’m sure there is. Some gems get sent up there for procedures. It’s actually quite surprising to see that they’ve got a few Pearls stationed there as well.”

“There’re other Pearls here?” Pearl said, surprised, “I never thought they’d be needed.”

“Yeah! It’s strange. I have no clue what they do with them up there,” Ruby replied.

The Roaming Eye flew out from under the Nemesis and ascended up along its side. Zircon pulled up her almost completed checklist. There were only a few assignments left to go. A Cease and Desist, a ruling on a moving charge, and a restraining order.

“Oh Blue,” she thought to herself, “We’ve gotten ourselves into the thick of this, haven’t we?” 

She turned to see Topaz sitting next to her, patient, stoic, and at attention.

“You missing home Topaz?” Zircon asked.

Topaz glanced down at her.

“Do you need permission to speak or something?” Zircon asked.

“Topaz finds home wherever Topaz is,” she responded.

“Fair enough,” Zircon said.


	8. The Lab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now for the fun part.

_One Cease and Desist and Moving Violation later_

The Quartz Crew marched through the station. Thankfully they weren’t shouldered with more heavy lifting as the remaining weapon ships had departed. Emerald was gone, off to bring death to dozens of more worlds. Until then, they had to keep watch over the remaining experiments. The squadron was dividing itself, with roughly half standing outside to at least look intimidating. Rocky, Skinny, Carnelian, and 8xA were with the others, heading inside to take up their next positions.

“Gem resurrection,” Skinny said, “I bet you they’re welding together shattered gems to make something.”

“How does that qualify as resurrection?” 8xA asked.

“Yeah, they’d come back as some freak who couldn’t think or manifest right,” Carnelian said.

“It’s ghoulish,” Rocky said, “You think Homeworld would greenlight something that sick?”

“Yeah,” 8xA said.

“Yes,” Carnelian said.

“Eh, probably,” Skinny said.

“Well, maybe they’re trying to improve artificial healing capabilities?” Rocky asked, hopefully.

“Or, it could be gem buffing,” 8xA said.

Carnelian shivered at the thought.

“Whatever they’re doing, it’s probably sick and awful,” 8xA said, “I can’t wait to see it.”

They filed into an elevator, Holly Blue taking up a position by the controls. 8xA took note of a pair of Peridots standing near the back, both era 2’s, and neither who she was looking for. They were carrying a package between the two of them.

“Hold up,” came a voice from outside as the elevator closed.

A large yellow hand grabbed the elevator door before it fully shut, and held it open for three more gems to enter. It was an odd trio from the yellow court: A Pearl, a Zircon, and a Topaz. 8xA noted from the Topaz’s size and presence of 2 gems, that she was a fusion.

“Thanks,” the Zircon said, she having been the one asking them to hold on.

They all stood in silence as the elevator ascended, most occupants taken in by Topaz’s impressive form. 8xA looked down at the Pearl, she was pretty cute. Pearl caught her staring and told her to buzz off.

“Wow, you’re so big,” Carnelian said to Topaz.

Topaz regarded the much smaller gem, not saying anything.

“You could probably crush one of our heads with only your hand!” an Amethyst exclaimed.

“Have you been to the arena? You’d do great,” another Amethyst said.

“I bet you could rip the horns right off an Alternian!”

“You guys melded together so well!”

“Flex!”

“Flex!”

Several other Amethysts repeated the last word in almost a chant.

Topaz looked around, unsure. She turned to Zircon who smiled encouragingly and gave her the thumbs up. Topaz looked around the crowded and eager elevator, lifted her right arm, and flexed it. A small bout of cheers ensued, and 8xJ hopped up and wrapped her arms around the arm. Topaz barely registered the weight and the Amethyst just hung there, smiling.

“So strong!”

“You’re awesome!”

“Punch me!”

“Kick ass!”

“Alright, everyone settle down, we’re almost there,” Holly Blue said.

8xA leaned over to Pearl, her face close to the smaller gem’s ear, “You wanna see how strong I am next?”

Pearl made an appalled face, noting the Amethyst’s oily tone.

“Of course not!” she snapped, “The gall of you to talk to me in such a way!”

The elevator dinged, and the occupants began to walk out, Yellow Pearl taking the lead. Topaz gingerly placed the Amethyst back down and followed after Pearl. 8xA slowly blew out a breath and rolled her eyes at the rejection.

“Pearls am I right?” Zircon said to her.

8xA turned and fixed the Zircon with a funny look.

“Oh, come on, you know how uppity they get? Who even uses the word gall anyway? Just someone who wants to look smart,” Zircon said, smirking.

“Whatever,” 8xA said, exiting the elevator.

Zircon trotted after her.

“Oh, come now,” Zircon said, “I had to put up with her on the flight over here, you’ll never get anywhere, trust me.”

Pearl had left ear shot long since as the group walked out of the elevator. The hallway opened up into a sterile multi-corridor layout. Over a dozen Peridots scampered around, lost in their holoscreens and the data within.

“She’s got a complex you know?” Zircon continued, “She’s the Pearl of Yellow Diamond herself, custom made, and she thinks that makes her better than all of us. She can talk down to you or me like we’re nothing while she lives her pampered life under her Excellency’s protection. She can just flaunt herself in front of us, rile us up and we can’t do anything but look. That’s how she gets us, look and no touch.”

Though she found herself agreeing with the Zircon, 8xA felt uncomfortable and said, “Listen, I get it and all, and nothing against you, but I’ve got a… thing about Zircons.”

“Who doesn’t?” Zircon replied with a smirk, “Some bitch from the Blue Court has just dumped all of her worthless cases on top of me so she can have time off. I do all the work and she gets all the credit, can you believe that?”

8xA nodded, unsure where the conversation was going.

“It’s people like them that like to twist things,” Zircon continued, “Take what you’re saying and distort it worse than a damaged gem projection. Say something innocuous and then they get you and you’ll be buried with sanctions, shipped off to guard some backwater mining facility.”

“Well,” 8xA started to say.

“Listen, you may have an issue with Zircons, buddy, but I live with them all the time. I have to deal with their bullshit waaaaaay more than anyone else. I’m entrenched in it, it kills me slowly, like a hairline fracture on my gem.”

“I mean, yeah definitely,” 8xA responded.

At this point the Peridots from the elevator had made it to the front of the pack. Topaz had offered to take their package, clearly the one she’d been carrying earlier, but they declined. They instructed Holly Blue where to take everyone.

“We call it the pen,” One said.

“It’s where we keep the active experiments,” the other said.

“Your mission will be to make sure they don’t get too uppity.”

“Keep them contained.”

“It shouldn’t be much trouble, they can barely ambulate, much less fight.”

“But still, precautions are precautions.”

“Got it,” Holly Blue said.

“Follow us then,” one Peridot said as the pair went up ahead.

“Finally, we’ll see what the science division has created,” Pearl said.

Topaz, who she was speaking to, simply nodded.

 

“Even though we’re just pulling grunt work, I’m still curious,” Carnelian said to Rocky and Skinny.”

“It’s just a flash in the pan thing. Some weird experiment they’ll have us baby sit, and then it’s back to lifting,” Skinny said.

“I hope it’s friendly,” Rocky said, optimistically.

 

“It’s like being trapped,” Zircon said, continuing her conversation with 8xA, “Trapped in a room full of crazy assholes just looking to nail you to the wall.”

“You’re right dammit!” 8xA said, caution thrown to the wind, “Technicality after technicality thrown your way, them exercising their grudges with the control they’ve got.”

“Of course!” Zircon exclaimed, “Being around them all day I can never complain, lest they find something on me, but you know the struggle, right?”

“Yeah,” 8xA grumbled, “I got burnt pretty bad by one.”

“Haven’t we all,” Zircon said, playfully nudging the Amethyst in the arm, “I’m pretty sure that one dumped all her paperwork on me because I told her how nice her ass looked, can you believe that?”

“Of course, I can,” 8xA said, annoyed, “I’ve got a ton of restraining orders because some Zircon wanted to meddle in my business. She had no idea of the situation but still she decided to butt in and it cost me… a lot.”

The Amethyst emphasized her final two words and her face grew dark. 8xA remembered that meeting, where 5xG had rejected her in the middle of that Kindergarten. She’d yelled and begged and ran away then, but she could never really get away. It was inevitable that they’d meet again, and they had. Every time 5xG thought she’d rid herself of the Amethyst, 8xA had found her. Not even the Blue Zircon could stop her; not physically and not with her legalese. 

The party approached an important looking door, and one Peridot keyed in the open code.

“We’ve arrived at the central lab,” the other said.

The door’s opened to a laboratory. It was quite big, with a dozen consoles, each manned by a Peridot. Numbers and data flashed across their visors as they manipulated results via their inserted limb enhancers. The far wall was a huge window, allowing for observation into the testing area; it was soundproofed. At the center of the lab, seated in a position of authority was a Yellow Sapphire, quietly typing away.

Then the party began to enter the room, she got off her seat and walked to them, smiling.

“Your Clarity,” Agate said, bowing.

“Greetings to you all! I am so happy to have a new set of guards in attendance,” Sapphire said, shaking Holly Blue’s hand, “Do not worry though, the job is relatively risk free!”

Yellow Sapphire looked them over, or they assumed she did, her eye wasn’t visible because of her bangs. The Sapphire had her hair in a strange manner, a cross between a bob cut, like the Blue Pearl, and an up do, like the Yellow Pearl. Zircon couldn’t see her gem, presuming it to be on her legs or head; hidden from sight.

“My word!” she exclaimed, turning to Topaz, “A Topaz fusion! I’m surprised such a strong being was present here!”

“Oh, I’m afraid she’s not with my crew,” Holly Blue said.

“Regardless,” Yellow Sapphire continued, “I’m so glad you could be here!”

“Well, now that introductions are out of the way,” Pearl said, “What have you been doing here? We’ve delivered you more chemicals to work with, what will you be using them on?”

Pearl gestured at the box the two Peridots were holding; Sapphire clapped her hands together in excitement before opening it.

“I’m so glad you brought these!” She continued, Zircon silently comparing her annoying enthusiasm to Ruby’s, “These are crucial stabilizing agents I ordered. They’re a good way to reinforce a damaged physical form, like a healer to a gem.”

Sapphire extracted a few beakers and passed them to a nearby Peridot.

“Load them into the sprinklers for cells 2 and 3. They seem to need it the most,” Sapphire said to the Peridot.

“Now that Emerald has her guns I can finally get back to work on my pet projects. Nothing ever seems to satisfy that woman. More strength, more kill power, more this more that! We have more in the gem military than big guns, come on, there’s more to an army than weapons! There’s people too!” Sapphire said.

“And what exactly are those pet projects?” Pearl asked.

Sapphire finished dispensing the fluids and turned back to the Pearl.

“I’m so fortunate to have Yellow Diamond send her own personal Pearl down to deliver this to me!” Sapphire said, and then turned to Topaz “And such a perfect Fusion too! Oh, it’s wonderful.”

Zircon studied the odd little Sapphire as she went back to her console.

 

“I wonder if she’s working on gem storage?” Rocky whispered to Skinny.

 

“But yes,” Sapphire continued, “This work is important, more important than Emerald wants to think.”

Sapphire sat back on her console and inputted more commands.

“So, what have you been working on?” Zircon asked, annoyed at the Sapphire’s showmanship and not giving a direct answer.

“Why, the study of fusion of course?” Sapphire said excitedly, activating the pen’s speakers.

The sound normally kept out by the soundproof glass came rushing in and that's when they heard the screaming.


	9. Life Changing Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short flashback before we end that cliffhanger.

_Homeworld, years ago_

“Why you ask?” Fluorite said, each word carefully chosen, mulled over, and unanimously decided on by committee.

The massive caterpillar like monstrosity was present in front of an entire courtroom of gems, each transfixed by the creature; repulsed but also intrigued. Seeing the six gems like this, this monster, baffled them. To see six gems, give up their forms, their minds, their very individuality to willingly become this beast before them… none of the audience could even comprehend it.

“Yes,” Yellow Zircon repeated, her revulsion barely contained, “Yes goddammit, why?!”

“Objection!” Blue Zircon said, the thankless job of defending Fluorite having fallen to her, “Relevance your honor?”

“Sustained,” the judge said, similarly transfixed by the beast, “Answer the question.”

“Why lower yourselves to… to this?!” Yellow Zircon yelled.

“I’ve not lowered myself,” Fluorite said, voice filled with warmth against the Prosecutor’s bile, “None of us have. Each one of us walked around, incomplete. We had no place in our lives, nobody to value, to love. Some of us only thought it proper to love a single person. But I am proof against that. Each one of them, of us; we found each other. We completed our incompleteness with each other. We turned our loneliness into something beautiful.”

The idea that she could consider herself beautiful seemed to unsettle parts of the audience, but Fluorite continued.

“I don’t expect you to understand. You don’t have to. It took us a long time to become what we are, to join together and be more than the sum of our parts.”

She smiled at Yellow then, like an elder to their grandchild.

“You ask why? And I can give so many answers. Maybe I wasn’t always meant to be, but together we feel a warmth and a love that none of us thought possible. I feel safe and I answer to no judgment but my own.”

“Guilty,” The judge yelled, slamming down her gavel.

“But-but,” Blue Zircon stammered, “The counterarguments, the jury, the-”

“Guilty,” The judge barked again, “Just get this monster out of my sight!”

“But your honor,” Yellow said, “What about sentencing?”

“The sentence is as follows,” the judge said, skipping over the need for a sentencing hearing, “The defendant is to be destabilized, and upon the reformation of the six defendants, they are to be separated and sent to different execution areas. To be carried out immediately.”

“But, uh,” Blue said, thinking fast, “I wish to file an appeal!”

“Motion to extend sentence to the defense counsel,” the Judge said, turning to Yellow, “Seconded?”

“No,” Yellow said tersely, then to Blue, “Defense should shut up right now before they dig their own grave.”

“But your honor,” Blue continued, “We can’t just cut out crucial parts of our legal system, no matter your feelings, Fluorite is entitled to a fair and just-”

“Blue, shut up before you make this worse,” Yellow hissed.

“It’s ok,” Fluorite said, reaching down to pat the Defense Zircon on the shoulder, “You made an effort, you tried to listen. That’s more than I could have asked, more than I could have expected.”

Blue Zircon looked up at the fusion, and Fluorite smiled down at her as the squadron of Amethysts herded her out. The Judge took her leave and the crowd of onlookers dispersed. Blue watched the large caterpillar like gem depart. The Amethysts surrounding her wearing expressions of anger and disgust.

“Well, that’s all done with!” Yellow said, clapping her hands together and breaking Blue’s train of thought.

“It shouldn’t have ended this way,” Blue said, looking down at her case notes.

“It shouldn’t have, but it did,” Yellow said, shrugging, “Tune in next week for another thankless job of defending an abomination in a show trial.”

Blue rounded on her then and said,

“She’s about to be taken away and killed! Doesn’t that bother you?”

“Should it?” Yellow asked, genuinely perplexed, “They chose to violate common sense and the law by doing what they did, and this is the consequence to that.”

“And you don’t think the laws that condemn people like her for making a personal decision to-”

“Oh no,” Yellow interrupted, waving her hand dismissively, “No more high-minded moral crusade talks out of you. You can go change the system another day.”

“Don’t just shut me down,” Blue snapped, “You always do this.”

“You always get dumb revolutionary ideas in your head!”

“We need to reconsider how we do things.”

“We’re a parasitic rock empire that literally needs to drain the life out of living planets to survive! The hell do we need moral backbone for?”

“You can’t just pretend there isn’t a way to change things!”

“And you can’t keep saying stuff like that. Someone could hear you and then I’ll have to prosecute you for treason.”

“And there lies the problem, the silencing of-”

Their argument was cut short by a scream. The two Zircons turned to the exit where Fluorite had been lead out of, only to see the massive multi-segmented creature scuttle out, climbing on the ceiling. She emerged from the hallway and scuttled along the wall of the courtroom, rapidly moving to the exit that lead to the streets.

“Oh,” she said, pausing to look at Blue, “Thank you again. It was nice to know that somebody tried to hear me out.”

With that she crawled to the door, knocked it open and fled into the streets amidst dozens of now scared gems. The two Zircons turned back to see the Amethyst squad emerge from the exit she’d crawled out from and rush outside to try and catch her. Fluorite had taken advantage of the fact that none of them wanted to approach her lest they contaminate themselves, and made a break for it.

The pair watched in silence as outside, the Amethysts pushed through the panicked gem civilians, the unrest preventing them from reaching their target. Fluorite disappeared off the side of the city, likely fleeing into the abandoned areas of the planet.

“Well, that sure happened,” Yellow said, ending the quiet.

“Oh,” Blue said, “I hope she gets away.”

“See,” Yellow said, patting Blue on the shoulder, “I won the case, and you took home a moral victory because your client wasn’t violently shattered. Everybody wins!”

“You’re incorrigible,” Blue said, annoyed.

“I don’t know what that means!” Yellow said, beaming, “Let’s make tracks before we’re requisitioned, I don’t want to be stuck for several hours in an interrogation room.”

“Even if it is another loss on my record, I’m glad she’s safe,” Blue said, “For a given measure of safe anyway.”

“C’mon,” Yellow said, “They’re kicking off a major event down at the Arena. That reigning Amethyst you like is going to defend her title again. I’ve got 2 tickets.” 

“After all of that, how can you just go off and-”

“Let’s be honest, that judge will probably want to track you down and throw some bogus collusion charge at you.”

“Y’know what? The Arena sounds nice,” Blue said.

Yellow wrapped an arm around Blue’s shoulder and the two left the courtroom into the now recovering street. Paperwork and potentially unethical frame-ups to be worried about later.


	10. Togetherness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's in the Pen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Body Horror warning.

_Nemesis Outpost, Present._

Zircon moved to the window with 8xA and Pearl and looked down. “The Pen,” as the Sapphire called it was a large room, the back of which was divided by several walls (none reaching the ceiling) which acted as short cells for the experiments. They were fusions, as Sapphire had said, and to Zircon they were far more horrific than Fluorite could ever have been. There were three of them. 

One was purple skinned and had four eyes, one pair crying profusely, the other seemed angry. It had four arms, two of which were actively seeking purchase on the cell walls around it, scrapping uselessly against them; the other pair would grab those arms every so often and the beast seemed to be restraining itself. Zircon realized that it likely couldn’t stand up under its own power as its legs were too skinny to support its weight. 

“Opal,” Sapphire said cheerily, “Our first test subject. It was quite a task getting the authorization to have that Amethyst released to my custody, but it was either here or the executioner’s block after all the stunts she pulled.”

The next figure was Rhondite, a gem class Zircon recognized from viewing old trial data. This one was remarkably different than the one she’d seen. It lay in its cell crying from both sets of eyes. It’s left side had two arms, while its right the arms were crudely melded together. Occasionally it would grasp at the air with one of its left arms but the right one lay motionless by its side. Zircon could tell from the creature’s legs that this one probably could walk. The Rhondite lay in her cell, simply crying while the Opal screamed.

“Rhondite,” Sapphire said, “This was a tricky one. The Ruby had been injured on the job, but one gem’s accident is another’s curiosity! Her gem was cracked and I wanted to see if two gems could maintain a fused state with such a damage. I was lucky to have another Pearl on hand!”

The final gem was burgundy colored, and resembled Opal. This one had six arms, and was easily the least stable of the three. It kept flashing and shifting itself, with its face becoming a mixture of three, four, and even six eyes. The fusion was in turmoil, that much Zircon could see, and its form could barely be sustained. The physical form devolved into light for a brief moment, nearly coming apart, before the cell was doused in a chemical.

“Fire Opal!” Sapphire said, “I really must thank you three for bringing me the solutions from Homeworld. We can keep restoring the physical form no matter how much they try and break it down. I hope we can integrate such healing practices into our military soon. Fire Opal’s a strange case, an attempt to merge three gems together. It’s a Ruby, Amethyst, Pearl fusion; I promised the Pearl to which ever one could win in a fight. As such the fusion is in conflict with each other at all times as they fight it out. Its mind cannot form coherently but I can continue to keep its body active. They’ve got nothing now; their minds are just a mixture of anger and fear; I don’t even know if they remember why they’re fighting with all of the merging and separating. They only seem to be acting on their primal emotions.”

Fire Opal let out a scream then, a chorus of three voices in disunion, each in pain.

“And these are my children,” Sapphire continued, “It’s been a challenge, but each tells me a crucial factoid about the mystery that is fusion. Who knows what great knowledge can come from this!”

She turned excitedly to her new audience. Said audience was less than pleased; in fact, several most wished they had stayed at the Zoo. An Amethyst near the back had fainted, Rocky was crying, Carnelian felt sick, Skinny looked away, and 8xA simply stared at the creatures, fascinated.

“Oh, my stars,” Zircon whispered, watching the sad scene play out.

_a warmth and a love that none of us thought possible_

There were seldom times she’d been unsettled by what their empire was capable of, but now there was a crack in her cynical acceptance. She turned to Topaz, who stood next to her, crying. 

“How-” she stammered, “How could y-”

Topaz’s physical form began to flash and glitch. Zircon could see the torso slowly separate into two. Topaz braced herself on the nearest console, trying to stop her form from separating. Zircon put a hand on her arm.

“Come back to us, Topaz,” she said, quietly.

With effort, Topaz willed herself back into solidity; the two gems opting to be unified in their distress rather than letting the stress break their concentration. Topaz continued to cry even as she tried to set her jaw into the stoic expression she’d had on for the whole trip. 

Pearl stared at the scene in front of her, at the fusions struggling with the agony their states had transformed them into.

“Well then,” Sapphire said, clapping together her hands to grab everyone’s attention, “Your assignments are simple, the team down in the Pen will rotate out for your group. You are to make sure the trio doesn’t escape. As I said before the job isn’t very risky. As fearsome as Fire Opal looks she’s almost entirely focused on fighting herself and extended time away from the healing solutions will inevitably break her down. Rhondite’s docile and Opal is even less of a threat than her fire counterpart. Any questions?”

With the last comment, she turned to Holly Blue, smiling expectantly. The Agate looked dead on her feet.

“You- you got this sanctioned?” Holly Blue asked.

“Of course!” Sapphire said, excitedly pulling up a new screen, “Experiments on the cluster project allowed for a better look at gem fusions. This time, why not use live gems? It’s a much different factor, but imagine the results? For Fire Opal, I’m hoping that her rage can stabilize into a permanent force of violence, while Opal is giving me a lot of answers on forced fusion. You see fusion usually requires two consenting parties to form the greater hold, but what if one party can dominate the other, what if a fusion can be 100% the product of only one parties control? So far, results are limiting, I’ll admit. At best this can serve as a last-ditch effort to subdue an escapee.”

Holly Blue Agate looked less than enthused with the answer. Rocky continued to cry, even as Skinny patted her on the back and tried to reassure her, both knew that the comments were hollow.

“Why Pearls?” Yellow Pearl asked.

“Hm?” Sapphire said, looking up from her screen.

“Every fusion incorporates and seems to rely on a Pearl,” Yellow Pearl repeated.

“Ah, you’ve noticed!” Sapphire said, her perpetual excitement still present, “It’s simple really. Pearls are weak, calm, and easy to control. The more violent personalities in Fire Opal I’m trying to counterbalance with the Pearl’s passivity. Rhondite’s pain may cause a greater gem to snap out and end the fusion, but all a Pearl can do is sit there and endure. And Opal? A Pearl was perfect for Opal; that Amethyst has a history of violence, that’s why she was slaving away at the Zel Quartz mine. But now, she has the perfect outlet for all of that aggression!”

Yellow Pearl couldn’t even say anything to that, she just stared at the Sapphire, dumbfounded. Then she turned back to the experiments, noting the Opal in particular and how its actions were so much more understandable. The legs unable to properly form, one set of arms (the stronger set) holding the other down, an angry set of eyes, a crying set of eyes, the screaming; it all made a kind of sick sense.

“Well, are you all ready?” Sapphire asked, turning back to the crowd.

Had the crew been able to manifest a digestive system most would have thrown up. As is, they stood: some horrified, some disgusted, and some distressed. Rocky seemed inconsolable at this point, and Carnelian and Skinny lead her out. The unconscious Amethyst was coming to all the while Holly Blue Agate couldn’t stop watching the three fusions.

“Well?” Sapphire asked again.

“This is sick,” Holly Blue said.

“Yeah, the last few said that to,” Sapphire said shrugging, “Listen, I mean this in a sincere way, but you can just refuse the job and I’ll find someone else. Unlike them, I’m not going to force you to participate in this. If your team cannot surmount this disturbance, then I’m afraid they shouldn’t be involved in controlling the experiment.”

“No, that’s not it,” Holly Blue said, “We are perfectly capable of fulfilling this job.”

The Sapphire looked at the Agate, her giddy excitement gone and sincerity on her mostly hidden face.

“I’m serious now,” Sapphire said, “Should your group not want to take this job, they shouldn’t. A lot of other gems have found the ethics of my experiments disturbing enough that it effects their job performances. And as selfish as it sounds I value those job performances. I don’t want to pressure you into doing this, I don’t want it to weigh on you, I can find-”

“We’ll take the job,” Holly Blue said, and then to the assembled crew “We’re taking over as facility guard, swallow your objections and fall into line!”

With uncertainty in the air, the remaining crew members stood at attention. Zircon quietly pulled Pearl and Topaz away from the crowd; they weren’t needed. Topaz had stopped crying, but looked miserable and Pearl looked like she was about to _start_ crying.

The trio left as Sapphire began to debrief the soldiers on what their new duty would entail. Outside the control room, Zircon saw Rocky on the ground in the fetal positon, still crying. Carnelian was trying to say something to her to try and help while Skinny was leaning against the wall, the experience leaving her drained.

The door shut and the six were left in the sanitized clean white halls. Zircon let a breath out and observed the scene, before she could say anything, Topaz flashed, her form separating into her components.

The two Topazes fell to the ground, one sobbing into her hands, the other trying to hold her.

“How-how-how could they?” the sobbing Topaz cried, “Just look at them! They’re hurting each other, hurting themselves!”

“It’s awful,” the other exclaimed, “Fusion’s about love, about bonding close together, not that! The screaming! God the screaming!”

“They’re just in so much pain,” Rocky said, between sobs, “It’s cruel! It’s horrible!”

“They sanctioned this,” Skinny said, speaking to no one in particular, “We’ve got the energy crisis and at least 3 different wars, and the Diamonds still signed off on this?”

“Easy to control,” Yellow muttered, starting to cry, “They just took them and threw them in because we’re easy to control, easy to hurt. And we can’t do anything! It’s true, I know it’s true, we’re too weak to fight back.”

“Guys c’mon,” Carnelian said, trying to be reassuring, but try as she might, even she couldn’t follow up that statement.

Zircon regarded the others quietly. They’d born witness to something in there that should never have left the mind of that little Sapphire. She remembered that the Sapphire had mentioned the Zel Quartz mine, a prison colony that the Diamonds sent rogue gems to. Shattering was a quick and easy death, but the mines were worse. You’d slave away there for years, decades, some for even centuries doing hard labor. The labor would cause wear on your Gem and over the years the wear would break the Gem down ultimately killing the Gem prisoner to finally put them out of their misery. The Zel Quartz mine wasn’t a particularly used punishment anymore; Yellow Diamond didn’t have the patience to indulge in long term revenge against citizens she didn’t care about. Still, mining the Quartz did help contribute to the empire and the prison colony did have a small populace. 

Zircon pulled up the records and quickly found the Amethyst who’d been sentenced. She’d had a particularly violent and short-tempered personality; numerous assault and battery citations. A particularly brutal incident involving a Ruby soldier that the Amethyst had lusted after had escalated into a brawl wherein she’d shattered two of her Jasper colleagues. When the dust settled, the Amethyst would have worn away at the prison, had her violent past not ensured her release for Sapphire’s experiments.

Zircon closed the report as the doors to the lab swung open. The Quartz crew marched out, uncertain but still dutiful. 8xJ spoke to Rocky and the others  
“You guys should sit this one out. It doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better.”

Carnelian thanked her and watched as the rest filed out. Zircon went back into the room to try and have another word with the people in charge. Inside, Holly Blue was slumped on an open chair, massaging her temples. The gem who’s positon required her to terrify was herself terrified; Zircon was always an aficionado for fine irony but given the situation that was perhaps inappropriate.

A lone Amethyst was still in the room, conversing with Sapphire, her curiosity piqued.

“And how does she control the Pearl?” 8xA asked, gesturing at Opal, “It’s clear that she’s the one in control there, and all the Pearl can do is cry.”

“It’s a matter of will really,” Sapphire said, cheery as ever, “the Amethyst has not only a stronger body, but a stronger mind. In the face of that, the Pearl really is helpless. The problem comes later though. The Pearl’s submission does seem to affect the gems’s physical form though. As you can see, she can’t quite walk. She’s still putting up a bit of a struggle though, so I’m waiting to see if a complete and utter domination can stabilize the fusion. I’m beginning to doubt if it can, but surely there must be a way!”

“And can this be performed with any weaker gem?” 8xA asked, still fascinated by the morbid scene in front of her, “Like a Peridot?”

“I would assume so,” Sapphire said, “Pearls were the ideal choice for such an unproven idea, but any gem that’s weaker than another could be used. They’ll fight you though. Even the Pearls, as weak as they are, will fight you.”

“Got any ideas?” Zircon asked, approaching them.

8xA smirked, “Yeah, maybe.”

Zircon chuckled at that, “Let’s find out the results of these tests before we jump head first into something.”

“Thinking like a scientist I see!” Sapphire said, happily, “I do have to wonder, what is a law Zircon doing all the way out here?”

“I came with the chemicals,” Zircon said, “A few subpoenas needed to be handed out here and there, you know how it is.”

“Of course,” Sapphire said.

“Though I have to ask, why not conduct the experiments in the central science base at the ship’s core?” Zircon asked.

“Safety precautions,” Sapphire said with a shrug, “I maintain that the fusions are more dangers to themselves than others, but even I don’t want to risk them being near all of the explosive super fuel we experiment on in there. Besides, this experiment is technically classified as a weapon and this is the lab for weapon development.”

“Makes sense,” Zircon conceded.

“When the forced fusion is perfected, what do you expect the result would be?” 8xA asked.

“Something akin to a regular fusion,” Sapphire said, “But whilst regular fusion relies on the union of two parties, a forced fusion would manifest the aggressor’s personality and put them in control, in theory at least. We seek to circumnavigate the communal and partnership aspects which seem fundamental to fusion.”

When she turned back to the windows, Zircon glimpsed the Sapphire’s gem from under her hairline. The gem was where the Sapphire’s eye would be.

“You’re blind?” Zircon asked, bluntly.

It was rude to comment on gem placement much less in such a manner that made assumptions about the gem because of it. Sapphire didn’t seem to mind, and when she turned to Zircon she parted her bangs so that her gem would be perfectly visible.

“I’m not blind,” she said, her dissonant happiness in full effect, “physical sight isn’t necessary for a Sapphire anyway, and from my mind’s eye I see all I’d ever hope to see!”


	11. Helping Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Topaz has had enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original plan was to have Emerald as the experiment director. But we knew so little of her when I wrote this that I didn't want to make too many assumptions. So I made an OC. Not particularly fond of her TBH, but she get's the plot where it needs to go.

Pearl tried to get up, but the gravity of the situation kept her down. She didn’t know what to do, what to think. The connection between her ruler’s perfect vision for the empire and the scenario playing out in the other room wasn’t quite forming in her mind. Perhaps she was fighting it, not even trying to reconcile the two. 

The Topazes had stopped crying, and stood as one, merging back together. The sole Topaz that emerged resumed her business face, but Pearl could see her fists were clenched.

The other three turned to Topaz as well, Rocky having stopped crying. Wordlessly, Topaz turned and reentered into the main lab. Pearl stood and followed her, with the Quartz gems trailing behind. 

“And from there we just deep-sixed the project,” Sapphire said, still speaking to Zircon, “Understanding biological reproduction is one thing, figuring out that communal Alternian method was just a nightmare and a half. I predicted that our victory would come regardless of our understanding, though, so I don’t regret abandoning my research.”

Pearl grabbed Topaz, her two hands together smaller than the fist she clutched.

“Topaz?” Pearl asked.

Topaz looked down at the Pearl. She probably could have gone a lifetime not having been exposed to this, heck even Topaz could have spent her lifetime in ignorance. Topaz looked back at the Sapphire, still chatting with Zircon.

“Amethyst 8xA,” Agate said, annoyed, “Stop sitting around up here and get back to work.”

“Fine, fine,” 8xA grumbled, “It’ll be a better view from down there anyway.”

She turned to leave, giving Topaz a wide berth. Topaz meanwhile was finally near enough to Sapphire and could clearly see out the window. The three fusions were still in the same positions of pain they were earlier. Topaz quietly regarded their faces; hurt, anguish, agony, all were present.

Zircon turned to her, noticing Topaz looming over them.

“Well, I suppose I should catch up to that Amethyst, we can go afterwards,” she said to Topaz.

Topaz didn’t respond. There was always a thing with her and loyalty to the Authority. She hadn’t the passion like other gems, such as Pearl, nor the desire for rebellion like many before her. She had a duty, and she followed that duty. There was a command structure to adhere to, orders to follow, and a place she was meant to occupy. All of that she threw out when she roughly grabbed the Sapphire and slammed her against the observation window with enough force that it cracked.

The results were immediate: Zircon stumbled backwards, shocked at the act; the Peridots in the room activated their projectile weaponry in their limb-enhancers; Holly Blue Agate sat up in her chair; and the Quartz Gems could only watch.

“Well, I suppose I should have seen this coming,” Sapphire said, her situation not changing her tone in the slightest, “You are a fusion after all. So many mysteries going on in your head. Oh well.”

“End. The. Experiment,” Topaz said, her voice a low growl.

“Put the chief scientist down,” a Peridot yelled, “Or we will be forced to open fire.”

“I took a full canon blast from one of our ships,” Topaz said, speaking only to Sapphire, “Another time a power core fell on top of me and exploded. One time, an Agate decided I’d make good target practice for the Irken weapons we’d confiscated. I withstood all of that, these will barely even sting.”

“She has a point, you know,” Sapphire said, speaking to her assistants, “Even unfused, Topazes can be particularly dense. I doubt you can do anything.”

“Topaz,” Zircon said, approaching the fusion, “Topaz, put her down. I don’t think you can come back from a situation like this.”

“Listen to the Zircon,” Sapphire said, “They’re natural negotiators! Heck if you do go on trial for treason I’d be happy to renegotiate your sentence, you can-”

Sapphire’s last words were lost as Zircon crushed her, poofing her physical form and letting the gem that was her eye fall easily to the ground. The Peridots opened fire then, Zircon dove under the nearest console as the blasts connected with the big gem. Topaz’s broad body was an easy target, and she braced herself against the cracked window; the blasts hurting her but not destroying her.

When the Peridots started shooting, Rocky tackled her two companions, taking them out of the line of fire. In doing so however, a blast struck her satchel, tearing it and striking her rock. Pearl was near the door when they started opening fire and was unaffected, whilst the Peridots made sure not to shoot Agate.

The blue rock fell out of the satchel, the blast causing it to glow brighter and brighter. Holly Blue noticed it first; the stray energy shot destabilizing the rock. Thinking quickly, she manifested her whip and struck at the rock. The whip wrapped itself around it and Holly Blue yanked, tearing the explosive rock from the ground and hurling it at Topaz.

Zircon scampered away just in time for the rock to connect with Topaz, exploding. The observation window was blown away, Zircon was knocked off her feet, and the three nearest Peridots lost their physical forms. 

Holly Blue Agate didn’t bother to admire her handiwork as she glimpsed Topaz in freefall, having survived the explosion, landing with both feet on the ground. Holly Blue growled, noting that the Topaz was of clear enough mind to reduce her weight for a gentler landing.

“Listen up, all of you!” she barked down at the befuddled Quartz Crew, “New orders, neutralize the Topaz fusion!”

The Quartz Crew didn’t move, too surprised at the sudden burst of action and happy that something else was happening other than the fusions suffering. Topaz took the momentary reprieve to make her way over to Opal. Opal’s four eyes fixed themselves on Topaz as she grew near, but the fusion was unable to do anything when Topaz seized her head.

“I’m separating you,” Topaz said, and began to pull.

The fusion, being unstable, would occasionally shift in its physical form. Topaz had noted where the single face would stutter and try to become two. There was a line, roughly down the center, where the faces would pull away from, and Topaz pulled to make that line more visible. The pressure on Opal got stronger and stronger as Topaz pulled; her mouth split, her eyes moved to the different extremes and suddenly- poof, Opal disappeared in a flash of light, becoming the two gems she’d been previously. 

The trauma of separation had knocked the Pearl unconscious, and Topaz gently set her down. The Amethyst on the other hand was very much awake and very much furious.

“Put me down,” she barked, her head in the palm of Topaz’s massive hand, “Let me go dammit! She’s mine! Give her to me-”

Topaz crushed the Amethyst’s head, and the gem’s physical form exploded in a cloud of dust, her gem clattering to the floor. With this act done she went to the next pen, her face softening as she was confronted with the Rhondite. Topaz extended a hand and said, 

“Come on, you’ve been hurting enough.”

Rhondite shook her head.

“I can’t,” she said, “I can’t just leave her. She’s in a lot of pain. And all she has is me! If-if I go then-”

Topaz took one of her still mobile hands into her own.

“A suffering shared, feels like a suffering halved. But I’m afraid the strain from the fusion may be hurting her even more,” Topaz said, “I promise you though, whatever happens, you are safe.”

Rhondite wanted to argue more, but something inside of her seemed to agree, and the connection was terminated. The fusion became a single Pearl, holding onto a cracked Ruby gem, crying silently.

“Idiots!” Holly Blue yelled, from her position at the destroyed lab, “Do something! This is treason! She’s attacked one of her betters and is sabotaging gem experiments!”

A few of the Quartz gems looked up, but most stood where they were, watching Topaz work. Even 8xA, who’d just come onto the scene, was willing to stay and admire the scene. Pearl and Zircon watched from the destroyed window; watching as their bodyguard disobeyed orders.

“How about that,” Zircon muttered, “I didn’t think she’d go all out.”

“How are we going to explain this!” Pearl exclaimed.

Holly Blue deployed her whip, saying “Sometimes if you want something done right.” 

She hopped from the destroyed lab and alighted on the floor via her flotation abilities. Topaz’s back was to her as she made her way to Fire Opal. Holly Blue lashed out with her whip, wrapping it around Topaz’s neck. Topaz was taken aback by the attack, and then the electricity started; agony stabbing her.

“Unruliness everywhere,” Holly Blue muttered, “This is the problem with fusions, leave them on too long and they start getting ideas.”

Topaz clawed at the whip around her neck with one arm, then pivoted and grabbed onto the taunt weapon with her other. Even with the electricity, she wrapped the whip around her hand, and then yanked, hard. The Agate was pulled from her position and flew right towards Topaz, who took the hand from her neck and delivered a firm punch to the Agate’s stomach, her momentum making the blow even worse. Agate flew back from the hit, crashing into the ground and rolling to a stop; dazed but her form held.

That handled, Topaz turned to the remaining Fusion. Fire Opal stared at her, her inner turmoil vanishing for the first time. The conflict seemed to have triggered a fight or flight reflex within the gems’ shared consciousness. Her physical form settled itself into something stable but no less monstrous. Six eyes fixed themselves on Topaz, six arms hung at the ready. 

“Please,” Topaz said to her, gently, “I want to help you.”

“No!” Fire Opal bellowed, her voice a layered combination of the three gems.

With that short declaration, Fire Opal lunged at her.


	12. Dissimilar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unchecked fire runs the risk of endangering everyone.

Fire Opal was a fury of fists and claws all targeting Topaz. Topaz drew her weapon, a heavy yellow Pugil Stick and met the Opal’s charge. Topaz easily fought the larger fusion off, spinning and batting away any limb that went for her. Fire Opal was violent and uncoordinated, simply banking on her aggression to win; while Topaz remained focused and calm, years of fusion and combat putting her at the advantage.

“Please,” she said, in between knocking back and guarding herself from limbs, “We can help you. The fusion process is hurting your minds.”

“No!” Fire Opal roared again, unleashing a jet of fire from her mouth.

That attack took Topaz by surprise and she stumbled back, scorched and burnt. Seeing an opening, Fire Opal leapt forward only to catch a heavy end of Topaz’s Pugil Stick to her torso, sending her reeling. Topaz resumed her fighting stance, clothes, hair, and physical form burnt to different degrees, but still holding. Fire Opal stumbled around, and finally fell onto her back, unable to reorient herself after being hit. She fell in a mass of limbs, and quickly untangled herself. Her limbs twisted grotesquely and pushed her back into a standing position. 

“Hurt you!” she bellowed, and charged forward.

She ran at Topaz with her hands and feet on the ground, scuttling like a spider towards her. She unleashed another jet of flame from her mouth, but Topaz was ready, spinning her Pugil Stick to neutralize the flames. Fire Opal resumed her bipedal stance as she arrived at Topaz and bore down at her. Topaz swung at her head, the blow tore through the cheek, dislocated her jaw, and broke some teeth. Fire Opal stood, the Pugil Stick’s end embedded in her head.

Topaz was shocked, she hadn’t expected such a blow to damage the physical form in such a way without the gem poofing. Then Fire Opal shifted her lower jaw and chomped down, her dislocated maw allowing her to grasp the weapon firmer than she should be able to. Fire Opal resumed her attacks, scratching and punching Topaz as the yellow fusion tried to remove her weapon.

As the fight carried on and the Quartz crew watched in amazement, Holly Blue Agate got back to her feet. She pulled two frayed whips from the gem on her head, and lashed the both out in an attack. The many ends of the whips wrapped themselves around Fire Opal, tangling her up. The Agate activated the whip’s electricity, brutally shocking the unstable fusion.

Fire Opal screamed in pain, releasing Topaz’s weapon. Holly Blue yanked her back, pulling the screaming creature off Topaz.

“Stop!” Topaz shouted, “You’re hurting her!”

“That’s the idea,” Holly Blue said, and then to her crew, “8xJ, 8xA, Destabilizers, now!”

The two Amethysts drew the Destabilizers the lab techs had stationed around the Pen, and advanced on the fusion. The fusion bent herself backwards and unleashed a short blast of fire onto the whips, burning them away. Standing straight, her mouth returning to normal, she drew the Ruby’s mace and the Amethyst’s whip and combined them into a Flail. Fire Opal let out a scream as she swung the weapon around; 8xJ and 8xA ducking as the spiked ball soared passed them. A Jasper and another Amethyst were smashed by the ball, both reduced to their gems. 

Fire Opal swung her mace at Topaz, the spiked ball catching on fire. Topaz swung her Pugil Stick to meet it and when the two weapons collided the mace shattered; its durability a testament to its fusion’s strength. Fire Opal withdrew her weapon and went back in for a charge, forcing Topaz back and slamming her into the far wall. Three hands gripped the Pugil Stick, whilst the others beat down on her foe. The gems in the ruined lab looked down, the Peridots making sure to document the fight.

“She needs help,” Carnelian said, before turning and heading out the door to descend to the lower floor, Skinny, and Rocky following her. 

Zircon didn’t move, still watching the scene play out below her. Pearl watched to, but clung to Zircon like a protective shield.

“Aren’t you going to do something?” Zircon asked the nearest Peridot.

“As violent as Fire Opal is, she’s also in a room stocked full of Quartz gems, an Agate, and a Topaz Fusion that’s fought her off. We have little fear for the safety and security of the greater base,” The Peridot replied, her voice monotone.

“Nothing! You’ll do nothing while that thing runs rampant!” Pearl yelled from behind Zircon.

“We are collecting data on her fighting ability,” the Peridot replied, “Sapphire desired for the trio to attain some level of anger to make them coherent, and as they’ve now attained it we need to document its combat prowess.”

“Typical,” Zircon said.

“We have shatterer, flask, and defensive Robonoids on standby,” the Peridot said.

Zircon sighed and looked down again. Directly below her Topaz struggled against the Fire Opal, the lack of space to swing the weapon had made it a hindrance and she withdrew it to grapple with the monster on her own.

“Topaz!” Zircon yelled, taking the collapsed Destabilizer from her belt, “Catch!”

Topaz looked up as Zircon tossed the weapon down to her. She grabbed it, activated it, and jabbed it into Fire Opal’s chest. Fire Opal screamed in pain, relenting in her attack. Yellow energy pulsed through the fusion, and the tell-tale signs of destabilization began to appear on the creature’s chest as yellow lines formed on the area around where the Destabilizer made contact. Topaz pushed the creature back, jabbing the weapon into her and holding it, keeping Fire Opal at bay. 

The Destabilizer’s defectiveness was apparent as she continued to strike her with it. Fire Opal should have broken apart by now, but the damaged Destabilizer wasn’t outputting enough energy to fully break her down. Topaz hesitated. Destabilization was painful, and to prolong the process was exceptionally cruel. Fire Opal’s components had suffered enough already and to add to that was wrong.

At this point the lab door opened again and Carnelian and the others rushed in. Carnelian made a beeline for the destroyed pens, digging out a canister from the walls. It was part of the sprinkler system, the healing solution for gem physical forms was deployed from there. Carnelian pulled it out and rushed over to the fight. 

Though Fire Opal was in agony she soon realized that there was a plateau to the pain she was feeling. The Destabilizer’s output couldn’t match the size of the physical form, and with that one burning thought in her brain she struck back. Fire Opal knocked away the Destabilizer and landed a solid punch on Topaz’s face, damaging her hand more than her opponent.

She reared for another attack again, only to for Skinny, Rocky, and another Jasper to slam into her side, knocking her down. Carnelian rushed back to Topaz, throwing the chemicals onto her. In an instant, Topaz’s physical form repaired itself, the burns, the scratches, the trauma, all of it was fixed up easily. Topaz stood at full strength, even her cracked visor was amended, and drew her weapon.

Fire Opal struggled against the three, her body twisting and shifting to allow better access to her foes. She threw Skinny off easily and banged Rocky’s and the Jasper’s heads together. Her foes in dispose, she drew herself up again and made another run at Topaz, six arms reading themselves for another furious sloppy attack.

Topaz met the charge; swinging her Pugil Stick straight at the creature. She struck Fire Opal dead center in the chest and with that, her form finally gave out and she disappeared in a poof of dust. The sheer amount of punishment she’d taken during the conflict had finally caught up with her and the three gems fell to the floor with echoing clangs.

Topaz and the others stood there and regarded the scene. Topaz withdrew her weapon, and received a hard slap on the back from 8xJ,

“That was amazing!” she yelled, “You took on a three-gem fusion that breathed fire!”

The rest of the quartz crew began sheering and congratulating her, Agate’s demands that they quiet down were ignored.

“Wooo, T-Paz!” Carnelian yelled.

“Congratulations,” Rocky chimed in.

“She did it,” Zircon said from up in the lab, smirking.

“Thank the Authority that’s over,” Pearl said, releasing Zircon’s arm and trying to pretend that she had been composed the entire time.

The Peridots began deploying the flask robonoids from their docking bays in the walls. The scampered over the scene, deploying healing fluid to fix the destroyed walls and crushed equipment. While they were doing this, Rocky surreptitiously swiped some fluid and went over to the Pearl that had once been the Rhondite. She knelt next to the frail gem and held out her hand. The Pearl looked at her, uncertain.

“It will help her,” Rocky said.

With that, the Pearl held out the cracked Ruby gem and Rocky applied the healing chemical to it. The gem’s crack fixed itself up then and there, looking as if it had never been damaged.

“Thank you,” The Pearl said.

Rocky patted her in the shoulder and helped her to her feet. The signs of conflict in the lab were quickly being stripped away. The walls of the cells were fixed right up, and the scorch marks and cracks to the pen were brushed away. Up above them the destroyed window and machinery were being reassembled and in under a minute the glass had reformed and the consoles were back up and running. Zircon and Pearl opted to join the rest of the group on the Pen’s floor. 

Zircon activated her holoscreen and began to create an incident report. She pulled up the data on the 7 gems used for the experiment as well as the approvals and sanctions that the experiment had received. There would be questions, hard questions that they’d be asked. Topaz, a fusion, had attacked a Sapphire, it was unheard of, and she’d trashed what was a completely legal Homeworld experiment. There’d be hell to pay for all of them. 

The pair entered into the Pen to find all of the Quartz crew chanting “To-Paz, To-Paz!” and congratulating her. Topaz could have been an arena champion, Zircon noted, but her talents were best utilized on the field. 

“What do we do now?” Pearl asked, looking up at her.

“We’ll have to see what the current leadership at this Outpost thinks. With Emerald gone, someone has to be in charge,” Zircon replied.

“What about them?” Pearl said, gesturing to the former fusion’s gems.

Rocky had collected and bubbled the gems that had been Fire Opal, and was speaking to the Pearl that had been part of Opal.

“I don’t know yet,” Zircon admitted with a shrug, “That’s for the higher ups to decide.”

“We should send them away,” Pearl said, quietly, “Send them far far away from this place and these people.”

“I’ll put in a word,” Zircon said.

“No, _I’ll_ put in a word,” Pearl said, “I’m an emissary of the Empress herself, who would say no to me?”

“That’s fair,” Zircon said, wondering just how much weight that statement held.

Zircon retrieved the damaged Destabilizer and walked over to the cells, and retrieved the Amethyst’s gem; the one who’s skull Topaz had crushed. No sense leaving her out and free. Zircon concentrated hard, attempting something she seldom did. A small yellow bubble appeared, surrounding the Amethyst’s gem. She was now in a stasis she wouldn’t soon wake up from.

 

“You were amazing!” Carnelian said, playfully punching Topaz in the knee.

“Thank you for the assistance,” Topaz said, ruffling Carnelian’s mane.

“You really kicked some ass,” 8xA said, beaming, “That fusion never knew what hit her!”

“You’re so damn strong!” Skinny said.

The rest of the Quartzes threw their adulation at Topaz and in that moment there was a seldom felt gratitude and validation for her and her ability to serve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was neat centering the climax around Topaz. I had to look up what her weapon was.
> 
> And yes, the Ruby could have been healed at anytime, but why waste such potential?


	13. To Hurt You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the excitement's died down, 8xA goes star watching.

_Afterwards_

Amethyst 8xA stood at the Science Base’s rear observation deck and looked out. A large green planet loomed in the middle distance. It was the closest planetary mass to Nemesis Outpost, but too far to grab the base with its gravity. They’d been given time off as the lab they were supposed to guard no longer was up and running. Instead they took shifts as enforcers stationed on the outside. 8xA was off duty currently, and had decided to do some star watching. She thought she might catch someone alone up here, maybe one of the many Peridots roaming around the lab, but no, she was alone. She sighed, and tried to see if there were any constellations she could recognize. She thought of abandoning this place and head back up to one of the sterilized rooms and check on what some of the technicians were doing. There was probably some Peridot up there bored out of their wits and looking to hook up.

Her thoughts moving to a more perverse territory were interrupted by the door to the observation deck opening. 8xA turned to see the Yellow Court’s Zircon entering, a smug haughty air about her as always.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Zircon said with a chuckle, “Enjoying the stars?”

“Yeah,” 8xA said, turning back.

“You wouldn’t believe all the crap I’m getting from Homeworld about this little incident,” Zircon said, “Every little thing I sent is being nitpicked to death! Can you believe it? I do something by the book and still they jump through hoops to delegitimize me.”

“They really are that petty, aren’t they?” 8xA said, smirking.

“Oh, you have no idea!” Zircon replied, “Well, actually you have some idea I suppose.”

“You might want to consider getting assigned to one of the main colony planets,” 8xA said, “It’d help to work somewhere far away from the Homeworld Bar.”

“You’re right I suppose,” Zircon said with a sigh, “Anyway, I did some digging on those cases of yours, man that’s some frustrating stuff.”

Zircon noted 8xA clenching her fist at the mention of the incidents.

“You find someone you like, but they need to get all upset over nothing and screw you over! And I read all the reports, it was goddamn nothing!” Zircon exclaimed.

“You’re damn right it was,” 8xA barked, “My life’s hard enough without that worthless corrupt little bitch getting in my way.”

“Mmhm,” Zircon said, nodding her head, “Any idea where that Peridot is?”

“Nah, I’m still looking.”

“Well, it is a big empire.”

“Yeah, but I’ve found her before and I’ll find her again. I’ll always find her, no matter what it takes.”

“I remember one of the Blue Court’s scholars philosophize on the wayward ideas of love,” Zircon said, “Throw out all the roadblocks: the vastness of space, the separation of class, and the laws in place, but love will always find a way.”

“Damn right,” 8xA said.

“You know, it was so good to meet you,” Zircon said, “So many others’d just throw me to the Bar for talking like this in some pathetic way to get some pats on the back. But you, you’re different. That Pearl’d lecture me about my place in an instant.”

“Yeah,” 8xA said, “You to. It’s hard to find someone who gets it, y’know? Carnelian and the others just bring me down, but I know you understand me.”

“Of course,” Zircon said with a smile.

“Yeah, and as for the Pearl,” 8xA said, returning the smile, “No way in hell I could get away with it, but I know what’d be the best way to shut that pretty mouth of hers, eh?!”

She elbowed Zircon in the ribs and let out a small laugh.

“Pearls,” Zircon said, “Always parading themselves around like they’re better than us.”

“Showing off, like they’re trying to make fun of us for what we can’t have,” 8xA said with a grumble, “And that one’s the worst of them! She thinks just because she’s Yellow Diamond’s little pet, that means she’s got the rank and all the authority she does.”

“That’s the lie they all tell themselves,” Zircon said, shaking her head, “Oh wait.”

With that she retrieved a small bubble from her belt; it contained the Amethyst that had been a part of Opal.

“Look who I managed to swipe,” Zircon said, smirking again, “You remember this one? She was in the Pen with the Pearl; that big purple fusion.”

“Oh yeah!” 8xA said, looking at the imprisoned Gem, “Man that must have been something, just her and the Pearl, together like… that, maybe they could have stayed like that forever? Can you imagine? No matter how she struggles, no matter how much she wants to run, she’s just so small, and just so fucking helpless.”

“I know, right?” Zircon said.

“Man was this one lucky,” 8xA said poking the bubble, “Alone together; with that Pearl all to herself. I envy her you know? She wanted that Pearl so badly, and this way, she couldn’t get away.”

“I saw their fusion “dance,” if you could call it that,” Zircon said, “It wasn’t pretty.”

“I’ll bet it wasn’t.”

“This Amethyst was obsessive. She’d found a Ruby she liked, and killed her own comrades just to get a hand on her. The Ruby didn’t reciprocate, but for her that wasn’t an option,” Zircon said, her voice oddly toneless.

“Sometimes the people we want, don’t know whether they want us,” 8xA said, “They need convincing.”

“She was ruthless, sadistic, and achieved depths of cruelty I’ve only seen on some of my more extreme cases,” Zircon continued, still in monotone, “Her willingness to commit pain and her revelry in it made her one of the most disgusting creatures I’ve ever come across. There’s an inability for her to think about anyone else besides herself. Who cares what anyone else wants? Who cares what that Ruby or that Pearl wanted? It’s what she wanted. That selfishness, that obsession, the lengths she’d go; they remind me of you.”

“Huh?” 8xA said, somewhat taken aback.

Zircon clipped the trapped gem to her belt again and looked back at 8xA.

“It was a place like this, wasn’t it? A lone observation deck, nobody around, nobody to try and stop you?”

“What are you-”

“You could have had her, then couldn’t you? It wouldn’t cross any line you haven’t already crossed, wouldn’t it? But now you just needed to scare her. Put the fear into her so she’d stop. Because you could come back, couldn’t you? Show her one of your ‘good times’,” Zircon said, her voice taking on a hint of anger with the last statement.

“It’s just like with that Peridot right? You’ve made her life a living nightmare with what you’ve done, with what you’re doing. Everyday she’s looking over her shoulder, hoping you’re not there. Maybe she even hopes you’ve given up? But I doubt it, heck I _know_ you haven’t given up; I don’t think you ever will.”

“What’s this all to you?” 8xA asked, realizing that this Zircon wasn’t too different from the last one.

“You’re a bad person, Amethyst,” Zircon said, “A lot of our empire commits atrocities. I’ve heard what Yellow Diamond wants to do with the imprisoned Rose Quartz class, I’ve seen the genocides Emerald enacts, heck, I’ve even seen the Cluster experiments which I’m goddamn sure the Sapphire here got inspired by. And then there’s you; at a basic level, there’s you. And she,” Zircon tapped the bubbled Amethyst, “She’s what you’ll become, left to your own devices. You’ll never be out there killing a populace out of malice but you’ve managed to be awful in your own small way. Maybe you’ll serve out a painful sentence like her, but I doubt it.”

8xA was on her guard now, turning on Zircon. She stood close to her now, her body language letting her know that should things turn physical that the lawyer stood no real chance.

“You see, Blue Zircon told me about this. Told me about who you were, what you liked to do to other gems weaker than you. What you did to that Peridot, and what you did to my colleague. You’re a big Gem, aren’t you? So strong when it comes to the civilians and tech support that can’t do anything to you. Makes you feel good, doesn’t it? Their fear, their weakness? Well I’ve got something for you.”

Zircon brought her hand up and 8xA braced herself, willing to charge the Law Gem if necessary. Right as she was about to attack, a holoscreen appeared from the Zircon’s hand, displaying her a text based document.

“Amethyst 8xA I present you with a court mandated Restraining Order. One of many for you I suppose,” Zircon said, her voice now clipped and professional, “By order of the Courts you are to stay away from Peridot 5xG, the exact distance extended by another planet. Similarly, you’re being charged with a sexual assault violation, again, one of many, due to your actions on The Skipjack. You are not to be present upon the same ship nor the same planet as the Blue Court’s Zircon who took this order out on you. Should you have any further complaints or if you wish to challenge this order, please file for a court date as soon as possible. A date in court will be found and you will need to find the time to be present for it. If you have any further questions, the Bar Association can be contacted, but similarly there will be a wait as they have other more pressing cases to move through.”

8xA just stared at the document.

“Are you serious?” she asked, dumbfounded more than angry, “That’s it? Another worthless restraining order? Damn, for a moment there I was going to try and make you eat your monocle!”

8xA chuckled a bit as the tension left her.

“Here’s something less useless,” Zircon said, as she drew the damaged Destabilizer from her belt.

She deployed it to its full length and thrust it forward, through the holoscreen that 8xA had been looking at, and into her chest. The screen shattered, and 8xA let out a cream of pain as the agonizing yellow energy surged through her body. Zircon jabbed the device in, its prongs punching through her breast as she forced the item into her. The telltale yellow lines began to form across 8xA’s body as the destabilizer began breaking down her form. The artificial yellow light pulsed through the room as the device sank into her.

With a smile, Zircon observed the scene in front of her. The damaged Destabilizer was a good choice, this was taking a lot longer and hurting a lot more than a regular destabilization. It was almost cruel to do this, to subject someone to this degree of pain. Well, maybe someone who wasn’t 8xA at least. Still, Zircon was happy with her work, happy to hear the Amethyst scream in pain, happy to have taken the time to earn her trust just so she could find the right moment to stab her in the back. It had turned out better than she had anticipated, and as the lines spread further and further, 8xA was taken to her limit.

An arm fell off, followed by a clean crack through a knee, and then:

**POOF!**

8xA’s physical form fully destabilized. Her gem fell to the floor, the clang echoing in the empty room. Zircon collapsed the Destabilizer and admired her handiwork. She swiftly kicked the gem away, muttering,

“Wretch.”

Zircon stared down at the gem. The restraining order was on her permanent record, but that was beside the point. It was another hollow threat. Nothing would come of it. Zircon straightened her cravat and her suit and turned to leave. She stopped, surprised, as she saw Topaz standing at the door watching her. Topaz too looked surprised, having witnessed the scene.

“So, uh,” Zircon said, scratching the back of her head, “I suppose you saw all of that right?”

“Why?” Topaz asked, “What in the hell compelled you to do that?”

Zircon frowned, the answer taking shape in her head.

“Imagine if someone really hurt one of you,” Zircon said, carefully, “They hurt one of you in a very painful and very personal way. How would the other feel? How would you react?”

“Topaz would protect Topaz,” she said, simply, “Not abandon her to travel half-way across the galaxy to attack someone.”

Topaz had managed to guess at the circumstances behind Zircon’s actions, and Zircon couldn’t really know how much the fusion knew.

“Well, you took the time out to crush Sapphire,” Zircon said, matter-of-factly rather than as an accusation.

“Heated actions are often rash. My actions were rash,” Topaz said.

“Yes, well, the past is the past,” Zircon said, clapping her hands together, “Even if that past was literally seconds ago.”

“Is that why you chose a defective Destabilizer, so it would hurt more?”

“Very good,” Zircon said, tapping her forehead, “Observations like that should make you do my job. I suppose I should say sorry for the Fire Opal assist, I thought the power output would be enough, but I guess not.”

“Is that why you came here?” Topaz asked.

“A Zircon was needed to come and present some court orders and approve the chemicals. Any of us could have done it.”

“And was that an excuse to come for her?” Topaz asked, more accusatory.

“Oh, you bet it was,” Zircon replied, her smile wolfish.

With that answer, Zircon began to leave, Topaz moving out of her way and then following her. Both had left the Amethyst back in the observation deck.

“We’re leaving soon,” Zircon said, “Orders were distributed and the package was delivered. No need to stay around here anymore. Pearl wants to leave as soon as possible I’m sure. Say good-bye to your fan club Topaz.”

“Do you feel any different now that you’ve done that?” Topaz asked.

“Hell yeah,” Zircon said, a spring in her step from the comment, “Did you see me? It was so fun getting to break her apart. She’s a wretched little dirt clump that one. You remember the Amethyst from the Opal fusion? The one who’s head you crushed? That’s her in a nutshell.”

Topaz relented. Perhaps the act was necessary, or perhaps Zircon was just showing off their species violent tendencies. Whatever the reason, the deed was done. Zircon approached a passing Peridot and handed over the defective Destabilizer as well as an incident report: where the rod had come from and what was wrong with it. When the Peridot was sent off, Zircon spoke again to Topaz,

“Let’s drop off the bubbled Amethyst down at the brig before leaving. No sense leaving her up and about.”

“Someone like her shouldn’t be near other gems,” Topaz said.

“Yes, I just hope she isn’t fished out for another experiment,” Zircon said.

“We can hope,” Topaz replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yellow Zircon's referencing Blue Zircon's meeting with 8xA back in Applied Pressure, the previous fic.
> 
> 8xA's encounter with Peridot was detailed in these comics:
> 
>  
> 
> [Part 1](http://drawbauchery.tumblr.com/post/163923899752/whats-your-name-did-someone-ask-for-a%0A)
> 
>  
> 
> [Part 2](http://drawbauchery.tumblr.com/post/163924423012/part-22-part-1-exact-same-warnings-as-the-last)


	14. The Mission's at its end.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue.

The incident was documented and reported. The lab was fully repaired but abandoned, its purpose was to contain fusion experiments and with the project concluded, it served no function. Emerald received a copy of the incident and largely laughed it off.

“I knew something bad would happen with Sapphire and her little abominations.”

She also stated that Topaz’s performance was too entertaining to be treasonous and subsequently dismissed any potential criminal charges. The Pearls were transported to a colony in the LV system by order of Yellow Diamond’s Pearl, the Pearl with the most standing in the empire. The colony was one of Blue Diamond’s, since turned into a care facility and famous medical outpost. By one Pearls’s request, the since healed Ruby gem was taken as well. There they would undergo extensive trauma therapy. 

The Ruby and Amethyst from Fire Opal were to speak at a hearing, both giving reports on the mental aspects of fusion and as to whether such experiments were worth pursuing. Sapphire was taken before a sub-committee and given a similar debriefing; she expressed an excitement at how composed and combat ready Topaz had been against her nightmarish experiments. Her status after the sub-committee evaluation is unknown, though it’s extremely likely she went to lead other experiments/crimes against nature.

The Quartz Crew would return to the Human Zoo, all happy to have been given a chance to work for the greater gem empire. Amethyst 2xO brought back some of the glowing rocks for the Zoomans to admire. Said rocks were guaranteed to be too weak to explode. Skinny and Carnelian appreciated the companionship of the Zoomans, noting their capacity for warmth being much preferable to their previous assignment. 

Holly Blue Agate was left to ruminate on her inaction when Topaz had stormed in and grabbed Sapphire. 

“It was treason, borderline anyway,” she thought to herself.

Sometimes in her quiet moments she could almost hear the screaming. The gems in pain, lesser gems she told herself, but that would not stop the memories. She had thrown the explosive rock at where the Sapphire’s gem had been, what if she’d been injured? Agate told herself that she was acting on impulse and hadn’t considered that. She continued to tell herself that; no part of her had attempted to endanger a gem of such a standing. It was only in that gem’s defense. She would tell herself that until the doubts went away.

8xA lay undiscovered for a few hours until she reformed. Agate yelled at her for ditching work, but her shouts were ignored. She hated that Zircon, the nerve she had attacking her like that. 8xA was angry at having let her get that close. She resolved to find her, the Amethyst’s mind conjuring up all sorts of revenge scenarios, each viler than the last. What she did to the Blue one would be nothing, this one… this one would suffer. 

Ultimately though, 8xA would only catch up to Yellow Zircon as the trio were departing. The Quartz crew had assembled to see them off, each one complimenting Topaz for her courage and strength. 8xA could only lock eyes with Zircon, the lawyer returning her gaze with a smug smirk. She would never get that gem alone now, and 8xA knew she could do nothing with such a crowd around. She snarled, the Zircon had bested her; gotten her alone and vulnerable. There was a sick irony in what she’d done and how helpless 8xA had been then and that irony was not lost on her. 

Topaz fixed the Amethyst with a dark gaze, an unspoken threat was conveyed and 8xA relented. No sense in making an enemy that could kill you. Still, she watched as the three ascended into their ship. The Pearl, a rotten little tease she could never have; the Zircon, an offensive slime ball she could never hurt; and the Topaz a powerhouse she could never hope to be. The three departed, leaving the Quartz crew behind them. They left Nemesis Base, left its history, left the experiments and crimes against their species, left the Conquered Emperor and his dead Empire. 

 

Topaz would remember this trip fondly in spite of all of the horror she had faced. She’d met an entire group of great Gems. They respected her and adored her for what she was instead of finding her presence objectionable. They’d stood by her when she enacted her little bit of treason. Though in the end she knew it was foolish to act so rashly, she could have been shattered for that, or worse, separated. 

This was what the empire wanted, it seems. The suffering it had put those gems through was a means to an end. Gems could break the barriers between them and come together, that was fusion, that was what was important. What they did… Topaz knew that wouldn’t be the end of it. In her mind, she hoped she could live out her entire existence never having to witness that again; but she knew deep down a day would come where she’d need to face reality and possibly the Diamonds themselves.

 

Yellow Pearl contemplated the nightmare she’d been privy to. There was a mercy to sending those three away, but still memories of that Sapphire remained. She could sometimes imagine herself in one of their places, abused, in pain, a stronger gem hurting her and all of it to an audience curious about how it could happen. She imagined Blue Diamond’s Pearl in a similar situation, she’d never survive any of that. Yellow Diamond hadn’t overseen this had she? No, high ranking soldiers like Emerald could be more independent. They could sanction this without having to bother telling superiors. That Sapphire may have acted alone. Maybe she could convince herself of that.

She spoke to Blue Pearl and told her everything about the incident, leading out her own breakdown. She regretted doing that, Blue was more bothered by it than she was and that was from a second-hand account. In spite of this the two returned to their positions by their Diamonds sides. It wasn’t their place to speak up to them, so they merely stood by and obeyed. No matter what Yellow Pearl thought of the experiments that could never supersede the ingrained loyalty to the Gem she was created for. 

Blue Pearl would check in on those gems whenever she and her Diamond visited the healing colony. Yellow was happy to hear that they were recovering. At the very least she was happy she could help with the fallout of what had happened. Sometimes though she thought back to the Conquered Emperor. The metal man who’d sought to grasp the whole of the universe in his hands. His species were extinct and his kingdoms were in ruin. Would that be Yellow Diamond someday? Would their race simply be a collection of ruins spread out across the galaxy; a curiosity for other species to behold? Yellow could see aliens regarding the Diamond Murals with the same awe and historical interest as she had the Emperor’s body. Even to their long-life spans, time marched ever onwards. 

 

Yellow Zircon went home.

“I’m back,” she yelled, abruptly entering into Blue Zircon’s office. 

Blue jumped, having been absorbed by her computer screen, finishing her report.

“Yellow, don’t just come barging in here!” Blue snapped.

“Don’t just hand out your password all willy-nilly,” Yellow responded, dropping herself into one of Blue’s chairs while the door closed itself.

“You sent out all the notices at the Outpost then?” Blue asked.

“Yep! I met your weird pink Amethyst too, the one who gave you all the rocks. She carried around some kind of energy bomb. It was freaky, I nearly died.”

“Oh, Amethyst 2xO, I didn’t expect her to be there,” Blue said.

“Course you did, her group was there, so _she_ was there, so 2xO was there,” Yellow said, putting her hands behind her head.

“Did… did you meet her?” Blue asked, getting up from the chair and lowering her voice.

“Lotta hers babe.”

“You know who.”

“Course I did.”

“And?”

“One restraining order and one Destabilizer to the chest.” Yellow said, still proud of her work.

Blue had walked over her and gave her an odd look.

“You did what?” she asked.

“I handed her the restraining order, all proper like I should. Then I violently tore her apart in a way that was both cruel and unusual.”

Blue was incredulous.

“Really?”

“Of course, I did.” Yellow said, speaking seriously now, “You should have seen her face, actually…”

Zircon tapped her gem and projected. It showed, from a first person POV, Zircon conversing with the Amethyst before violently electrocuting her.

“My Stars!” Blue exclaimed, “You really went through with it!”

“I’m capable of awful awful things, Blue,” Yellow said, a haughty, non-serious smirk on her face, “You should have seen her, it _was_ painful.”

Yellow closed the projection and Blue crossed her arms, cautiously eyeing her counterpart. Yellow just smiled back at her. Blue sighed and sat on one of the adjacent chairs.

“You think she’ll stop?” she asked, though she knew the answer.

“No, I doubt she will,” Yellow said, “There were some things there, Blue. Bad things. I saw some messed up, fucked up things at that base. And what’s worse, she saw them.”

Yellow told her then, about the fusion experiments. She told her about the fight and what they’d seen. She talked about Opal and what horrible circumstances had birthed that fusion, circumstances which 8xA seemed all too interested in.

“Oh no…” Blue said, having heard that, “Oh no.”

She leaned forward in her chair, processing this information.

“I think she’ll think twice about trying it,” Yellow said, “We all saw the results. No sense in just handicapping yourself.”

“Now that makes sense,” Blue said, “But you know her, she’s obsessed. Even if it’s a bad idea she can bend her mind into thinking it’s a good one. And she’ll try, mark my words, she’ll try.”

“The process isn’t permanent,” Yellow responded, “We can always split them up if something happens.”

“Yes, physically, but mentally? Can you live with someone like that having been inside your mind? Having been a part of you? It would be her final violation.”

Yellow thought on that. She didn’t know that Peridot very well, but still she worried about her and what future harm 8xA was capable of inflicting.

“What can we do?” Blue said, more to herself than her counterpart.

“Just keep moving her around,” Yellow said, “Keep her one step ahead and hope one day an Injector falls on top of that Amethyst.”

In spite of her worries, that did make Blue smile, if only a little.

“You almost done for the night?” Yellow asked.

“Yeah,”

“Let’s head out then. Side 3’s got some new art gallery that’s opened up, they’ve got some of the material Emerald’s troops pillaged from those worlds.”

“Stolen alien treasure, sounds fun.”

“That’s the spirit,” Yellow said, playfully hitting her on the arm.

Blue got back up and went to her computer, finishing up her work. With that done the pair left for Side 3. They needed a break after all they’d done and witnessed. The Empire’s crimes and 8xA’s escapades were problems neither knew if they could solve. They would try though, to the best of their abilities, they would try.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, thanks for reading everyone. 
> 
> This kind of looks like a cliffhanger, but it's not. The story was partly to try and give some context to a later thing in the AU where 8xA does try out fusion.
> 
> Check them out [here](http://drawbauchery.tumblr.com/post/164540483657/here-are-the-fusions-some-are-finished-some-are)
> 
> Warning for body horror, a lot worse than in this fic.


End file.
